Cisco this week moved to provide SaaS-based Web security services by snapping up ScanSafe for $183 million. The ScanSafe acquisition will now allow Cisco to offer hosted and on premises Web security through its IronPort purchase of a few years ago.
Cisco says it expects Web security to be a $2.3 billion market by 2012. Analyst Paul Roberts of The 451 Group says hosted offerings are an increasingly attractive alternative to secure mail gateways for a wide range of enterprises and SMBs. Roberts also says hosted Web offerings stand to eat into the revenue stream for on prem offerings in the years to come.
The ScanSafe acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of Cisco's fiscal year 2010.
ScanSafe's service will be integrated with Cisco's AnyConnect VPN Client.
Upon the close of the acquisition, ScanSafe will become part of Cisco's Security Technology Business Unit, reporting to Vice President and General Manager Tom Gillis.
Roberts says ScanSafe was looking for a buyer after Google, an OEM reseller of the Web security service, passed on the company. ScanSafe was out early with a hosted Web security services but burned a lot of cash building its SaaS infrastructure, Roberts says. It also missed the boat on hosted e-mail security/anti spam, "which is typically the first step before hosted Web," Roberts says
"ScanSafe compensated for that by OEMing its technology to Google as a complement to Postini, and we thought GOOG might be a likely buyer," Roberts says. "But once it became clear that GOOG wasn't going to write a check (and, in fact, may be an eventual competitor), the folks at ScanSafe were looking for other buyers. Cisco and its IronPort product line fit the bill."
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