Cisco to Buy Cloud Security Company OpenDNS for $635M in Cash

Cisco announced its intent to purchase the cloud security company OpenDNS $ 635 million this morning. There is probably no coincidence that Cisco was one of the investors 2014.The $ 635 million paid in cash and assumed equity awards in one round of $ 35 million May and retention incentives based OpenDNS, according to data supplied by Cisco.

OpenDNS provides Cisco, a network provider that offers protection from the most traditional edge network, software as a service provider that provides a secure transmission on any device, anywhere, anytime. Purchases may be made on the strategy of Cisco to add a layer of security in the cloud is based, according to a blog post by Hilton Romanski, of Business Development at Cisco forwards.

"The acquisition is our ability to provide customers to expand with better visibility and a threat to the protection of entry points provide uncontrolled and potentially unsafe network, and deploy and integrate these skills as part of their defense architecture quickly and efficiently", in his blog Romanski he wrote there.

OpenDNS has raised $ 51.3 million, according to CrunchBase, so the $ 635 million price should investors a good return.David Ulevitch, founder and CEO was early morning and clearly enthusiastic about the matter, but was not prepared to comment on the I History, I, relying on Cisco communications people.

OpenDNS team will join the group of companies Cisco Security. He expects the transaction to close in the first quarter of fiscal 2016.

OpenDNS has more than 10,000 paying customers, more than 50 million users (through its free service). 24 data centers runs and maintains more than 2 percent of the DNS traffic in the world with an amazing 100 percent uptime, was launched last year.The service according to the company provided Originally as consumer services for parents to protect children online, said Ulevitch TechCrunch in an interview last year.

"We have tens of millions of users from the beginning of 2006 had," he said.

The company launched its product business in 2009. It just does block out bad traffic and a good traffic flow and thus act as a protective layer between the user and the Internet, Ulevitch explained at the time.

Cisco has shown that it continues to offer the free version of OpenDNS. "DNS services free OpenDNS will not be affected. Cisco is now committed to providing services for consumers and DNS of OpenDNS '. Sending pass the products to Cisco OpenDNS completion of the acquisition," said a spokesman wrote via email.