**Editor’s Note: Please click


here


for a recap of the biggest channel-impacting mergers in Q3 2012 or


here


for the biggest M&A during that time in the service-provider and BSS/OSS spaces.**

Cisco Systems on Thursday bought Cloupia, giving itself software to automate data center and cloud infrastructure.

Cisco is paying $125 million in cash and incentives for all Cloupia shares. Cisco plans to integrate Cloupia’s employees into its data center group. The deal should close in the second quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2013.

Cisco said it will integrate Cloupia’s software with its Unified Computing System (UCS) and Nexus switching equipment to oversee storage, operating system resources, computing power, networking and more.

David Yen, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco’s data center business group, said the strategy concerns a data center networking portfolio that includes physical and virtual products supporting multiple hypervisors and storage stacks.

“The addition of Cloupia’s automation software enhances the efficiency of such unified data center infrastructures, helping to accelerate the transition from physical to cloud environments more quickly and effectively,” said Yen.