In an attempt to deepen its reach into the data center market, Intel entered into an agreement to buy Fulcrum Microsystems, a fabless semiconductor company that designs Ethernet switch silicon for data center networks.

Kirk Skaugen, VP and general manager of Intel’s data center group, said the move was part of Intel’s transition from a server-technology company to being a comprehensive data center technology provider, offering compute, storage and network components.

"Fulcrum Microsystems’ switch silicon, already recognized for high performance and low latency, complements Intel’s leading processors and Ethernet controllers, and will deliver our customers new levels of performance and energy efficiency while improving their economics of cloud service delivery," he said.

Fulcrum offers integrated standards-based 10GbE and 40GbE switch silicon. According to Intel, 10GbE networks are currently "one of the fastest-growing market segments" in the data center space.

Intel is widening the range of data center applications its products address to take advantage of the cloud-driven convergence of server, storage and network technologies. The company says a lot of this convergence is taking place around its Xeon processors.

Calabasas, California-based Fulcrum has been around for about 12 years.

The acquisition remains subject to approval by Fulcrum shareholders and trade regulators. If approved, Intel plans to close the transaction in the third quarter of 2011.

The companies did not disclose financial terms of the agreement.