Broadcom is paying $178 million and mostly cash for nine-year-old privately held Israeli-based Dune Networks and its "cloud" chipset, which can connect upwards of 10,000 servers (ports) at bandwidth speeds of 100 Gbps a port.
That's supposed to be Google-scale, which indicates where Broadcom is placing its bets, having failed to secure Emulex this summer.
The widgetry is supposed to extend the lifecycle of packet platforms from three years to more than 10.
Management is staying on.
The deal is supposed to be neutral or slightly accretive in 2010 and the $178 million Broadcom is paying is net of the money tucked in Dune's bank account.
The switch fabric house raised $53 million in funding from Alta Berkeley Venture Partners, Aurum-SBC Ventures, Evergreen Venture Partners, Jerusalem Ventures Partners, Pitango Venture Capital and US Ventures Partners.
The acquisition should close by the end of March.