Cisco is acquiring SourceFire, and so begins a new security push.  At a purchase price of $2.7 Billion @ $76 per share, it’s rather significant.  Cisco is the largest networking equipment manufacturer in the business, and is known to hold a significant portion of their cash overseas.  This makes a domestic purchase on this order all the more telling.  SourceFire is known for their Intrustion Detection Systems (IDS) technology and the open source tool Snort.  Snort has a long history in security and it has been used extensively in government environments.

“‘Buy’ has always been a key part of our build-buy-partner innovation strategy,” said Hilton Romanski, vice president, Cisco Corporate Development. “Sourcefire aligns well with Cisco’s future vision for security and supports the key pillars of our security strategy. Through our shared view of the critical role the network must play in cybersecurity and threat defense, we have a unique opportunity to deliver the most comprehensive approach to security in the market.”

How Cisco rolls this in to their product line will be interesting to watch.  They are entangled in a showdown with such names like Fortinet, Check Point and Palo Alto Networks, whose products offer security features that have left Cisco largely in catch-up mode.  The fact of the matter is that legacy security is falling short and people in the business have been seeing some ‘dark spots’ on their network.  This is because the security boundary is changing in addition to computing itself, and it means that security products need to change along with it.  If you pick up and plug legacy security into virtual, mobile, cloud, and app ecosystems, these gaps are quite obvious.  There’s not much visibility from a legacy security perspective – with little visibility into apps, trends, and intrusion.  That’s where SourceFire has made gains, with an inspection-based security approach that may in the future be embedded directly on the network equipment, in virtual environments, in the cloud, in multiple data center configurations.

SourceFire’s security systems have a significant present in corporate and government environments.  They feature intrusion detection, malware protection, and firewall systems.  With Cisco stepping in, they can pick up more of the federal government side of the business.  SourceFire’s products are widely regarded as being extensively invested in being on the cutting edge of malware detection, APTs, and intrusion detection.  Their product lineup has also emerged with analytic tools to aid its cybersecurity lineup. This type of heads-up awareness is the stuff that’s on the federal cybersecurity wish-list, to say the least, expect that to continue.

Cisco should enjoy an instant boost, and it is likely that they will eventually incorporate elements of the technology into their core of networking products.  This acquisition should center Cisco in the security field once again, where they face the evolving dynamics of today’s real-world computing and security demands.  The IT security landscape has changed, and the rate of change is accelerating, with the introduction of cloud, mobility, IOT – there are many challenges.  With so much evolution and the gateway for Software Defined Networking coming onto the enterprise scene, a product that is engrained into the network fabric would be instantly sought after.  SourceFire has featured unique automated systems that are rooted in inspection, but also have a multi-layered approach to answer these security challenges.  Cisco will be leveraging that proposition to the enterprise – front and center – because this is a completely ready for market solution and mature security portfolio.