Cisco to Buy Maker Of Security Software
January 5, 2007
Cisco Systems, the world's largest maker of computer networking equipment, has agreed to buy IronPort Systems for $830 million to push into the security software market.
The cash-and-stock purchase is the biggest for Cisco since the $6.9 billion acquisition of Scientific-Atlanta last year, and underscores rising demand for network protection. The acquisition follows nine security purchases announced last year, each for less than $100 million.
Shares of Cisco rose 73 cents to $28.46 in Nasdaq trading. The stock rose 60 percent last year.
IronPort, a closely held company based in San Bruno, Calif., has 3,000 clients, including Cisco and 38 of the world's top 100 companies. It had an estimated 6.6 percent of the $635.2 million market in spam protection in 2005, a market that is growing 42 percent a year, according to Peter Firstbrook, an analyst at Gartner Inc. in Stamford, Conn.
IronPort also puts Cisco in direct competition with the Symantec Corporation, the world's largest maker of security software, which had 12 percent of the antispam market, he said.
