Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) has announced plans to acquire US cloud security outift CloudLock Inc. for $293m, building on its ‘Security Everywhere’ strategy, which is designed to provide protection from the cloud to the network to the endpoint.
The Waltham, MA-based company specialises in cloud access security broker (CASB) technology that provides enterprises with visibility and analytics around user behaviour and sensitive data in cloud services, including SaaS, IaaS and PaaS.
“As companies are migrating to the cloud, they need a technology partner that can accelerate that transition and deliver critical security capabilities for all their users, apps and data in a seamless way,” says Rob Salvagno, vice president of Cisco Corporate Development. “CloudLock brings a unique cloud-native, platform and API-based approach to cloud security which allows them to build powerful security solutions that are easy to deploy and simple to manage.”
Cisco says CloudLock helps customers move their security off-premise, in response to an increase in data, devices and a decentralised way of doing business. It says CloudLock’s CASB technology helps customers understand and monitor user behaviour and sensitive data in cloud applications, providing greater visibility, compliance and threat protection – regardless of whether the applications are sanctioned by IT or not.
The CloudLock team will join Cisco’s Networking and Security Business Group under senior vice president and general manager, David Goeckeler.
Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco will pay $293m in cash and assumed equity awards, plus additional retention-based incentives for CloudLock employees who join Cisco. The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of fiscal year 2017, subject to customary closing conditions.
