Cisco Systems Inc. [CSCO] on Tuesday said it would acquire the 20% stake in data center networking company Nuova Systems it doesn't already own. The price for the stake, which is owned by Nuova employees, will be based on sales of Nuova's products and could be anywhere from $10 million to $678 million.

Nuova Systems is developing technology to simplify data center operations. Cisco initially invested $50 million in Nuova in 2006 and another $20 million in the company last year. As part of that agreement, Cisco and Nuova agreed to expand the scope of the products under development, while also increasing the potential payout for the remaining stake from $578 million to $678 million. Those payouts will begin after the first measurement period for the earnount in early fiscal 2010, with a second scheduled for late in fiscal 2010 and the third in mid-fiscal 2011. -- David Shabelman

See April 8 statement from Cisco
See August 2006 post from Tech Confidential
See April 8 statement from Cisco on acquiring Nuova Systems