Saying the addition of Extension Healthcare’s complementary software creates the “most powerful and complete mobile communication and collaboration platform on the market,” Vocera Communications Inc., has acquired the Fort Wayne, Ind.,-based company in a $55 million all-cash deal.

Vocera, a global company with its headquarters in San Jose, Calif., and Extension Healthcare have previously collaborated many times and share more than 40 hospital customers across the United States, including several medical centers within the Veterans Health Administration. The acquisition will enable Vocera to expand customer relationships and grow software revenue faster by providing cross-selling opportunities. Brent Lang, president and CEO of Vocera, said the transaction will also better position Vocera to win more large, system-wide deals.

“This acquisition extends the power of Vocera’s software platform for hospitals and health systems seeking one partner for all their care team collaboration, workflow and communication needs,” Lang said in a prepared statement. “In addition to offering a powerful combination of technology, Vocera and Extension Healthcare share a mission to improve care delivery, efficiency and safety, while also improving the lives of patients, families and care teams around the world.”

Todd Plesko, co-founder and CEO of Extension Healthcare, which was founded in 2009, said it was “inspiring to be part of health care’s next generation of technology that simplifies and improves care team collaboration.”

“With our visions aligned and software platforms combined, this new endeavor will make a positive and lasting impact on health care delivery,” he added.

Vocera, a publicly-traded company founded 16 years ago, is a leading provider of clinical communications systems in health care, installed in more than 1,300 facilities. The Vocera Communications Platform offers secure, integrated and intelligent communication systems with more than 120 clinical systems including electronic health records (EHRs), physiologic monitors, enterprise clinical systems and biomed devices such as ventilators.

The addition of Enterprise Healthcare, which is known for its Engage clinical integration software solution, will extend the scalability of the platform and enable stronger person-to-person and system-to-system workflows within a single system from a single vendor, the executives said.

Selected by more than 230 health care customers, the Engage software platform allows multi-disciplinary care teams to improve response times, minimize interruption fatigue and reduce patient falls, among other benefits. Engage will offer widespread interoperability, expand Vocera’s product portfolio and expand its market reach.

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