WSJ reports that Cisco has made plans to acquire video solutions provider Inlet Technologies for $95 million to strengthen its video streaming offerings. Cisco is sitting on a huge stockpile of teleconferencing and home networking resources. This being a major segment for them to focus on, and the acquisition is aimed to further develop and progress this initiative.

“The acquisition of Inlet will enable our customers to leverage the network as a platform to deliver innovative video experiences to consumers on any device,” said Enrique Rodriguez, general manager of Cisco’s service provider video technology group.

Under the deal, expected to close in the first half of this year, Cisco will pay about $95 million in cash and retention-based incentives for Inlet.”

Inlet employees will be integrated with the Cisco’s service provider video technology group.

The news break of the intended Inlet acquisition comes after Cisco is beginning to face increased competition from HP and others. Nevertheless, the networking giant is definitely not the only one who’s been making developments in this space lately.  Vidyo raised a hefty round to build out its teleconferencing solutions, while Skype is certainly making strides in this direction as well.  Towards the end of last year we saw a rising interest from HP in teleconferencing and similar solutions, bringing additional competition to Cisco’s camp.