Cisco Systems Inc. today announced plans to acquire Skyport Systems Inc., a five-year-old hyperconverged infrastructure provider backed by $67 million in funding.

Investors in the startup include big names such as Intel Capital, Alphabet Inc.’s GV and Index Ventures. Cisco itself also backed Skyport through a $30 million round completed in 2016.

What has enabled the provider to generate so much interest in the venture capital community is its flagship SkySecure system, a specialized appliance designed to run companies’ most sensitive applications. The platform combines compute, storage and networking components into a “hardened” chassis that Skyport said is designed to withstand tampering. SkySecure also has built-in cryptographic modules for encrypting the applications running inside.

According to Skyport, the appliance runs each workload in a dedicated virtual compartment that isolates it from the outside world. Requests to an application are only accepted from pre-approved sources that have to meet certain conditions for an action to be carried out. Moreover, all activity is logged to help companies look out for potentially unauthorized activity.

The startup positioned the system as a more convenient alternative to creating a secure application environment from scratch, which historically required enterprises to cobble together separate hardware and software components. Skyport Chief Executive Art Gilliland said in November that the team was expecting to close 2017 with sales up 300 percent year-over-year.

This was no doubt reflected in Cisco’s offer. The networking giant didn’t share the value of the deal, but stated that it will “utilize Skyport’s intellectual property, seasoned software and network expertise to accelerate priority areas across multiple Cisco portfolios.”

It seems the existing product won’t survive, however. “Sadly the current product will not continue,” Nils Swart, Skyport’s head of product, wrote in a tweet early this morning. “Sincerely hope the technology will indeed find its place in a good line-up of (new?) Cisco products.”

In a common pattern with Cisco’s acquisitions, the networking giant might decide to carry over some of the capabilities in SkySecure to its own hyperconverged appliances. The technology obtained through the acquisition could also complement the networking giant’s cybersecurity products. Such was the case with one of Cisco’s most recent buyouts, the purchase of threat detection provider Observation Networks Inc. in June, which helped bolster its Stealthwatch network monitoring platform.

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