Cisco acquires Ironport in $830 million deal

Cisco, in networking major, announced the acquisition of Ironport, in the e-mail security space, in a deal amounting to approximately $830 million in cash and stock. The acquisition is subject to various standard closing conditions and expected to close by the third quarter, comes within a year since Ironport started business in India.

By this acquisition, Cisco will be retaining the business relationships and market strategies that both companies have developed and upon close of the transaction the Ironport team and product portfolio will operate as a business unit in Cisco's Security Technology Group, reporting to Richard Palmer.

Richard Palmer, senior vice president for security technology group at Cisco, said, "Using the network as a flexible platform to integrate Ironport's technologies, Cisco will be able to build new security applications as customers’ demands evolve."

Ambarish Deshpande, regional director for India & Saarc at Ironport Systems, stated, “This acquisition will not affect the channel or customers of Ironport in India and we will continue to function as a distinct division within the Cisco portfolio. The advantage accruing to Ironport from the acquisition would be that of the Cisco brand name, which would help it reach out to partners and customers in a major way.�