Cisco Systems has announced that it will acquire privately held startup Protego Networks for $65 million. The move brings many possibilities to Cisco.
Protego Networks' technology brings Cisco the ability to manage the security aspects of an enterprise network, to detect security events and to consolidate those events so they can be presented to managers in an understandable form.
Protego's technology also includes the ability to close off portions of a network undergoing an attack, and to remediate the results of an attack.
Up until now, the process of managing security features was left to third parties, but now Cisco will be able to offer its own solutions. The move will help Cisco make good on its pledge to become a serious security vendor. As soon as Cisco completes aquisition of Protego, it will be able to incorporate Protego technology into its switches and routers; however this is part of a long term Cisco strategy and won't happen overnight.