Apple partners with Cisco to boost enterprise business

(Reuters) - Apple Inc on Monday teamed up with network gear maker Cisco Systems Inc to improve the performance of its iPad and iPhone devices on Cisco's corporate network.

Cisco will provide services specially optimized for iOS devices across mobile, cloud, and on premises-based collaboration tools such as Cisco Spark, Cisco Telepresence and Cisco WebEx, the companies said in a statement.

Apple is expanding its foothold in the enterprise arena at a time when iPad sales are shrinking. Cisco, on the other hand, has been investing in products and services such as data analytics software, security and cloud-management tools.

Last year, Apple partnered with International Business Machines Corp to sell iPhones and iPads loaded with applications geared at enterprise clients.

Apple's shares were marginally down at $112.84 in late-afternoon trading, while Cisco was down about 1 percent at $25.75.

(Reporting By Lehar Maan in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)