Networking giant Cisco Systems has signalled its intention to expand further into the security market, and advance consolidation in the industry, by announcing the acquisition of web security-as-a-service firm ScanSafe.

The $183m (£112m) deal will follow Cisco's $830m (£507m) move for content security vendor IronPort two years ago, and further help it occupy a web security market expected to grow to $2.3bn (£1.4bn) by 2012, according to the firm.

"With the acquisition of ScanSafe, Cisco is executing on our vision to build a borderless network security architecture that combines network and cloud-based services for advanced security enforcement," said Tom Gillis, vice president and general manager of Cisco's Security Technology Business Unit.

"Cisco will provide customers with the flexibility to choose the deployment model that best suits their organisation, and deliver anytime, anywhere protection against web-based threats."

ScanSafe's on-demand web security service will be integrated into Cisco's AnyConnect virtual private network client, while the firm's datacentre infrastructure will help to boost Cisco's cloud computing capabilities, the firm said.

The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of Cisco's fiscal 2010.

See also:

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Small businesses at risk, warns ScanSafe  25 Aug 2009

Workplace social network blocking jumps by a quarter

Firms taking a harder line over security and productivity concerns  19 Aug 2009

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