Cisco weighs cybersecurity, cloud technology deals

Technology giant Cisco may consider in the years ahead deals to expand its cybersecurity operations and make it easier for people to access cloud technology, according to CEO Chuck Robbins.

“The way we think about acquisitions is that we want those that are complementary,” Robbins told Maria Bartiromo during a FOX Business interview on Friday. “They either make our editing franchises stronger, or they help us extend our franchises.”

The Silicon Valley-based conglomerate specializes in networking hardware and, through some of its subsidiaries, domain security and energy management.

Cisco’s customers, Robbins said, are dealing with a more complicated technology world than they did five years ago, in large part because of the cloud.

“The network actually has to play a more important role than it ever has,” he said. “So policy and helping our customers navigate this multi-cloud world is another area that’s a big one for us.”

Robbins said he hopes to help simplify that for users as more and more clients shift to mobile devices that are heavily reliant upon the cloud.

“There’s an architectural transition that they’re thinking through about what the network of the future needs to look like in order to accommodate these new areas that are going to drive my growth versus what I’ve done in mobility for the last decade,” he said. “That’s what we’re going through right now.”