Cisco this morning made public its plan to buy Pure Digital, manufacturer of the popular Flip pocket camcorder line. Pending the deal's close, Flip will be folded into Cisco's Consumer Business Group, home to Linksys by Cisco home networking and various media storage products. Pure Digital CEO Jonathan Kaplan will be made the general manager of the group.

"The acquisition of Pure Digital is key to Cisco's strategy to expand our momentum in the media-enabled home and to capture the consumer market transition to visual networking," said Cisco SVP, Ned Hooper, in a statement issued today. "Pure Digital has revolutionized the way people capture and share video with Flip Video. This acquisition will take Cisco's consumer business to the next level as the company develops new video capabilities and drives the next generation of entertainment and communication experiences."

Cisco is expected to pay $590 million in stock for all of Pure Digital's shares, plus $15 million for "retention-based equity incentives for continuing employees." The deal is expected to close in Q4 2009.

Since first introducing the Flip, Pure Digital has sold more than two million devices, including, most recently the Mino and Mino HD.