CTech’s Daily Israeli Tech News Roundup

Cisco looking to sell video-software unit NDS at a steep discount. Six years after shelling out $5 billion for NDS, Cisco is now putting a $1 billion price tag on the Jerusalem-based business, which mainly develops software for the pay-TV industry. Read more

NDS, Jerusalem. Photo: Noam Moshkovitz

Starboard attempting to replace Mellanox’s entire board. The activist investor dispatched a letter to Mellanox’s shareholders announcing a fight to switch out all nine members of the board. Read more

Review of refundable Sirin Labs tokens points to six major transactions. Calcalist took a closer look at the Sirin Labs’ ICO which concluded last month. Keep an eye on the six major transactions totaling nearly $50 million that were made under Sirin’s 60-day refund policy. Read more

Microsoft taps cloud security executive as new head of research in Israel. On Thursday, the company announced the appointment of Assaf Rappaport, co-founder of cloud security startup Adallom bought by Microsoft in 2015. Read more

Swiss IT company Veeam acquires cloud backup startup N2WS for $42.5 million. N2WS provides enterprise backup and disaster recovery for AWS, listing Coca-Cola, Dyson, Oracle and Harvard University as clients. Read more

A startup that develops tow truck satellites signs a $100 million deal. The Israeli aerospace company develops “Space Drones” that provide life-extending and re-positioning services to satellites in-orbit. As part of the deal, the company will launch two such service satellites by 2020. Read more

$500 million India and Israel missile deal is back. During his visit to India, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that a deal for the purchase of Israeli anti-tank missiles is back on the table. Signed in 2016, the deal had been canceled by the Indian government earlier this month. Read more

Elbit secures $85 million contract to provide electronic warfare systems. The Israeli defense contractor will supply a range of electronic warfare and signal intelligence systems to an unnamed European country. This deal comes at the heels of a $46 million contract with NATO and a $64 million deal with the Israeli Ministry of Defense, both announced in December. Read more

Image retail analytics company Trax buys retail intelligence startup Quri. "We launched an M&A strategy as part of our intention to go public in 2019," said Trax CEO Joel Bar-El. Read more

Amid executive reshuffling, Twitch hires Israeli VP. The Amazon-owned video game streaming service reshuffles top management, hires three new executives, including Israeli Amir Shevat, formerly of Slack, Google and Microsoft. Read more

Akeneo acquires Sigmento. Sigmento’s software uses AI and machine learning algorithms to allow e-commerce merchants to organize product information for their entire catalog. Read more