Cisco Buying Sourcefire for $2.7bln

Cisco says its customers are looking for a holistic approach to secure their environment instead of fragmented set of solutions. “We all know the IP landscape itself is in change. Today the perimeter is vanishing to encompass the mobile network and the cloud, all of which create entry points and infrastructure that in many cases the IP manager no longer controls,” said Chris Young, svp of Cisco Security Group. “We call this the any-to-any problem. You could have any user on any device who could be anywhere accessing any application or any resource that could be running in any cloud.  As customers begin to harness the power of the Internet of everything, you can only see how this becomes more and more complex for them.”

This is the largest deal for Cisco since it paid $5bln last year for video software and security solution provider NDS. Cisco said the deal, expected to close in the 2^nd half of the calendar year, with give customers continuous security in more places across the network. "Cisco’s acquisition of Sourcefire will help accelerate the realization of our vision for a new model of security across the extended network," said Martin Roesch, founder and chief technology officer of Sourcefire. 

Columbia, MD-based Sourcefire will be integrated into the Cisco Security Group once the deal closes. Cisco shares were flat in mid-day trading, while Sourcefire shares were on fire, up more than 27%.