Cisco Systems announced on Jan. 4 that it has agreed to buy IronPort, a provider of messaging and Web security appliances, for approximately $830 million. The San Jose, Calif.-based networking giant reported that the deal will consist of a cash and stock transaction, and that it is planning to close the merger sometime during the third quarter of its fiscal year 2007.
Cisco called the e-mail filtering and anti-spam technologies marketed by IronPort, based in San Bruno, Calif., a "natural extension" of its growing security portfolio. The company has made a significant push into the security space over the last several years, aggressively expanding its product lineup, which includes technologies such as firewalls and its NAC (Network Admission Control) authentication tools. The networking market leader said that IronPort"s messaging security software and appliances will specifically complement its threat mitigation, secure communications, policy control and infrastructure management technologies.