Cisco announced on Wednesday its intent to acquire Israel’s Intucell for $475 million in cash and employee retention incentives. Intucell’s product portfolio would be integrated into Cisco’s Service Provider Mobility Group, with the team reporting to the Software and Applications Group led by Shailesh Shukla.

Intucell provides advanced self-optimizing network (SON) software for carriers, enabling them to plan, configure, manage and optimize cellular networks based on real-time changing demands.

“The mobile network of the future must be able to scale intelligently to address growing and often unpredictable traffic patterns, while also enabling carriers to generate incremental revenue streams,” said Kelly Ahuja, SVP and GM of Cisco’s Service Provider Mobility Group. “Through the addition of Intucell’s industry-leading SON technology, Cisco’s service provider mobility portfolio provides operators with unparalleled network intelligence and the unique ability to not only accommodate exploding network traffic, but to profit from it.”

Hilton Romanski, VP, Head of Corporate Business Development at Cisco, blogged about the acquisition, to say:

This acquisition will allow Cisco to extend network intelligence and tightly align different software elements across our product portfolio. It also reinforces our commitment to service provider customers and strengthens our expertise in mobility. In addition, the acquisition of Intucell furthers our long-standing commitment to cutting-edge innovation based in Israel.

The proliferation of connected mobile devices, faster network speeds, and growing demand for high-bandwidth applications and services are driving greater network traffic and complexity. As mobile service providers continue to face increased end-user demand, the need to dynamically manage network bandwidth, usage and services is increasing. Intucell’s SON software platform addresses these challenges by examining the network, identifying issues, and intelligently managing network traffic in real time. This capability brings enormous value to service providers and their customers.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2013. It is, of course, subject to regulatory approval.