On Thursday, the networking bigwig Cisco Systems announced its intentions of taking over the San-Francisco, California-based Pure Digital Technologies, the manufacturer of the popular Flip Video camcorder.

The San-Jose, California-based Cisco plans to strike a $590-million-in-stock deal with Pure Digital. In exchange, Cisco will gain all the Pure Digital shares, as well as a robust gadget startup that would further its foray into the consumer marketplace. The deal would likely close in Cisco's fiscal fourth quarter, ending July.

In fact, with an enviable nearly $29.5 billion cash hoard, as per Cisco's last quarterly update, the company appears more than well-set to expand amid recession. Not for nothing did CEO John Chambers say that a weak economy is an opportunity to invest!

In its aggressive expansion endeavor, to reach beyond its core business of making computer networking gear, Cisco has already announced its proposed plan of selling servers, so as to take a grab of the "data centers" spending by big organizations.

Though it is not yet clear how Cisco plans to integrate Flip Video with its existing Cisco products, analyst Ryan Hutchinson, of Lazard Capital, said the acquisition fits into Cisco's "larger strategic vision" related to promoting increased network usage, for selling more routers and switches. Hutchinson noted that Flip Video would facilitate video sharing on the Internet via sites like YouTube!