Cisco has bought security start-up Virtuata for an undisclosed sum to boost its cloud computing offerings.
The Californian firm focuses on security for virtual machines,either within datacentres or as part of a cloud deployment.
It will now become part of Cisco's datacentre group,with both products and employees being folded into the networking giant.
"As we continue to use all of Cisco's assets to drive innovation,acquisitions such as Virtuata will help bring additional top talent,new technology,and unique business models into Cisco,"wrote Hilton Romanski,vice-president of corporate business development at Cisco,on the company's blog.
"The Virtuata acquisition reinforces Cisco's commitment to deliver an intelligent network by providing market-leading infrastructure across the datacentre,"he continued.
Romanski claimed security was a number one concern for customers moving to cloud,so the acquisition was necessary to help boost confidence in Cisco's portfolio.
"As more and more business applications move to virtualised platforms,security and isolation become necessary conditions at the virtual machine level,"he added.
"This acquisition is highly complementary to Cisco's vision of a unified datacentre that securely connects people and businesses with applications and data through virtual and cloud environments."
Neither the figures for the sale or the completion date have been revealed by the two firms.
