Cisco agreed to acquire Sourcefire (NASDAQ: FIRE) today announced a definitive agreement for Cisco to acquire Sourcefire, a leader in intelligent cybersecurity, for $76 per share in cash, representing an aggregate purchase price of approximately $2.7 billion.
Sourcefire, which is based in Columbia, Maryland, was founded in 2001 by Martin Roesch, author of open source Snort, the world’s most widely deployed intrusion detection and prevention technology. The company claims nearly 4 million downloads to date. Sourcefire’s intrusion prevention solutions are based on Snort.
Sourcefire completed its initial public offering in 2007. The company has more than 650 employees worldwide. For the full year ended December 31, 2012, Sourcefire reported revenue of $223.1 million, an increase of 35 percent year-over-year.
Cisco said the deal helps it to provide continuous and pervasive advanced threat protection across the entire attack continuum – before, during and after an attack – and from any device to any cloud.
“The notion of the ‘perimeter’ no longer exists and today’s sophisticated threats are able to circumvent traditional, disparate security products. Organizations require continuous and pervasive advanced threat protection that addresses each phase of the attack continuum,” said Christopher Young, senior vice president, Cisco Security Group. “With the acquisition of Sourcefire, we believe our customers will benefit from one of the industry’s most comprehensive, integrated security solutions – one that is simpler to deploy, and offers better security intelligence.”
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http://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=1225204
