Blue Coat Systems, specialist in application delivery networking, has acquired a majority stake in Indian S7 Software Solutions Pvt Ltd, a research and development firm in Bangalore. The company further intends to acquire the remaining stake in S7 after getting regulatory approval from the Indian government.

Nasdaq-listed Blue Coat is paying $5.25m in cash to acquire all the shares of S7 Software, it said in a statement. With this acquisition, Blue Coat Systems now has an additional 50 software professionals. The company acquired the stake in S7 Software in the last week of January, 2010, though it did not divulge the actual percentage of the stake it currently holds in the company.

With this new center, Blue Coat plans to focus on management, reporting and client software products. It plans to upgrade S7 Software into one of its four major product development centers around the world, and will hire new employees over the next several months.

"Our new center builds on the expertise and established momentum of S7 Software to immediately advance our development work. With this, we can accelerate our pace of innovation and increase the return on investment to our stockholders," Brian Ball, senior vice president and general manager, Blue Coat, said in the statement.