Cisco Systems said it will buy privately held cloud networking company Meraki for $1.2 billion in cash as part of its cloud and networking strategy. Headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., with offices in New York, London and Mexico, Meraki offers midmarket customers easy-to-deploy on-premise networking solutions that can be centrally managed from the cloud.

Cisco expects to close in the second quarter of Cisco's 2013 fiscal year and is subject to regulatory approval.

The acquisition of Meraki complements and expands Cisco's strategy to offer more software-centric solutions to simplify network management, help its customers empower mobile workforces, and generate new revenue opportunities for partners.

Meraki's cloud networking solutions will expand Cisco's network offerings by providing scalable solutions for midmarket businesses. The Meraki acquisition will also strengthen Cisco's Unified Access platform, which simplifies IT operations and uniting wired and wireless networks, policy and management into one integrated network infrastructure, unlike other competitive offerings.

Meraki technology offers Wi-Fi, switching, security and mobile device management centrally managed from the cloud. Meraki solutions support BYOD, guest networking, application control, WAN optimization, application firewall and other advanced networking services.

Meraki was founded by members of MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science.