Sophos has agreed to acquire network security company Astaro as it looks to move into the appliance market.
Astaro offers unified threat management boxes, which bring together a range of protection capabilities, including firewall, intrusion prevention and URL blocking.
The terms of the deal announced today were undisclosed.
"The combination of Astaro's comprehensive portfolio of network security solutions alongside our endpoint, mobile, and email and web threat and data protection capabilities will enable us to continue to deliver on our vision of providing complete security without complexity wherever the user and company data resides," said Steve Munford, chief executive (CEO) at Sophos.
Astaro enjoyed 30 per cent year-on-year growth in 2010.
Sophos believes the acquisiton will cater to businesses' desire for "coordinated protection and policy between endpoint and network."
"Demand for network security solutions with more comprehensive and high-quality protection is accelerating fast, and yet companies are struggling with the complexity of multiple security solutions to serve these needs," stated Jan Hichert, Astaro CEO.
"Together, we will deliver to customers the ability to apply consistent security and web and application controls regardless of where the user is or where the network boundary may lie."
