It looks like Cisco is on a definitive run to get back into the league of the big IT boys after a long lull, as seen in the latest announcement that Cisco would be paying USD2.7 billion to acquire one of NASDAQ’s blue-eyed technology lister, Sourcefire.
Many see this as the much required booster jab for the once-illustrious network king to gain back its footing in the IT world.
Over the past two years, pure hardware players including many switch and router network vendors such as Cisco have been challenged to keep up with the agility of software companies which can more easily and quickly provide functionality and performance value to business customers.
Software supremacy is reigning in the world of IT, as seen in the rise of software-based concepts such as the likes of cloud, virtualisation and SDN (Software Defined Networks).
Not to mention the intelligence that software is able to bring to all significant investments that many enterprise businesses have already put into building their network hardware systems.
In fact, there were several prophecies that software was going to have ‘hardware for lunch’ and pure hardware-based vendors had better up their game to incorporate software.
The purchase of Sourcefire is more than a logical one, noting several factors.
Firstly, in trying to claw its way back, Cisco’s strategic direction has integrated a lot of software-based IT security capabilities into its core of network solutions.
Earlier this year, the network giant purchased Czech firm known as Cognitive Security, a software developer that uses artificial intelligence to identify security threats. And prior in 2009, Cisco bought security software firm ScanSafe Inc.
No doubt that the Sourcefire purchase by cash rich Cisco is a clear endeavour to build a fully comprehensive and impenetrable security services platform.
Another plus point to acquiring Sourcefire is also acquiring founder and CTO, Martin Roesch, as well as Sourcefire’s highly skilled team of vulnerability experts (the people behind the open-source ‘Snort’ IDS – intrusion detection system that is widely used in the U.S. intelligence community).
Finally, is the obvious potential of Sourcefire which is a fast rising star in the IT world, reporting over USD220 million in revenue in 2012, a pretty impressive 35% improvement from the previous year of 2011. The performance growth of the Maryland-based firm has also made it a target for acquisition for years, by other security vendors such as Barracuda Networks and Israeli company Check Point.
And now finally, the bait has been bitten by one of the largest fish in the pond, we can expect Cisco to make a strong comeback in 2014, as it equips itself to offer software-based security capabilities that are tightly integrated into its base commodity of network equipment.
IT BYTES BACK! says: Sourcefire CEO John Burris who passed on recently in October 2012, is missed even more in the wake of this exciting development in the IT security world. However the ‘what if’ question remains – would this acquisition news be naught if he were still around?
