Cisco has reached an agreement to acquire stealth start-up SpansLogic Inc.

SpansLogic produces processors that improve packet processing speeds across a network. Cisco plans on embedding SpanLogic's tech into future network switches.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Cisco will get the keys to the 14-employee Mountain View operation at the end of their fiscal year, ending April 28, 2007. SpansLogic will be assimilated into Cisco's Datacenter Business Unit.

SpansLogic is in an ideal place for a chip start-up, sitting just feet away from the site of the original Shockley Semiconductor Lab – the birthplace of Silicon Valley.

Computer glom Cisco is in the habit of acquiring tech companies not unlike how comicbook villain Galactus has consumed countless planets. Most recently, web conferencing company WebEx was aquired in a $3.2bn deal. (By Cisco, not Galactus.) ®