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The acquisition of Isovalent will help the tech company boost its multicloud security infrastructure.
Tech multinational Cisco is set to acquire Isovalent, a networking and security company with headquarters in California and Zurich. The deal is for an undisclosed sum but is expected to close in the third quarter of 2024.
Founded by Thomas Graf and Dan Wendlandt in 2017, Isovalent is behind the rapidly growing open-source technologies Cilium and eBPF.
According to Cisco, the deal will help build on its Security Cloud platform – an AI-driven, cloud delivered, integrated security platform for various companies.
Jeetu Patel, executive vice-president and general manager of security and collaboration at Cisco, said the two companies will together build on the open-source power of Cilium to create “a truly unique multicloud security and networking capability” to help companies with their digital transformation journeys.
“Imagine in today’s distributed environment of applications, virtual machines, containers and cloud assets having security controls with total visibility, without hindering networking and application performance. The combination of Cisco and Isovalent will make this a reality.”
Following the closing of the acquisition, Cisco intends to continue offering and building on Isovalent’s platforms, including Isovalent Enterprise.
Stephen Augustus, head of open source at Cisco, said Isovalent’s team will join Cisco’s open-source governance and technical leadership to solve complex cloud native, security and networking challenges. “Their knowledge will accelerate innovation across the business and help further strengthen the Cisco Security Cloud platform to meet the growing demands of our customers.”
Cisco has had its eye on Isovalent for several years. In 2020, it joined Google and Andreessen Horowitz in its Series A funding round, which brought in $29m. At the time, Cisco stated in a blogpost that Isovalent was “a company to watch”. The start-up then landed $40m in Series B funding, a round which Cisco was also part of.
“It was clear from the beginning that Cisco came to the table with a clear vision to double down on our products and our open-source strategy with a strong commitment to our open-source projects,” Isovalent CEO Graf said in a blogpost.
“We are excited about this shared vision and what is ahead for Cilium and Tetragon, and we look forward to continuing our eBPF journey as part of Cisco to bring our technology and products to an even larger customer base.”
Earlier this year, Cisco snapped up cybersecurity company Splunk in a deal valued at $28bn. The company expects that deal to drive the next generation of AI-enabled security and observability.
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