Cisco to buy $150 mln of VMware shares

July 27 (Reuters) - VMware Inc., a unit of data storage company EMC Corp. (EMC.N), said Cisco Systems (CSCO.O) agreed to buy $150 million worth of VMware Class A common shares.

After the investment, Cisco will own about 1.6 percent of VMware's total outstanding common stock, the companies said in a statement.

VMware, which plans to go public soon, also said it agreed to consider the appointment of a Cisco executive to VMware's board of directors at a future date. (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore)