By adding Sentryo, Cisco intends to offer control systems engineers deeper visibility into assets to optimize, detect anomalies and secure their networks.
Cisco plans to acquire Sentryo, a company based in France that provides device visibility and security solutions for industrial control system (ICS) networks.
The acquisition is expected to close before the end of Cisco’s Q1 Fiscal Year 2020 (October 26, 2019). However, the companies didn’t disclose the purchase price.
Sentryo’s industrial IoT/OT technology solution helps companies like those in the energy, manufacturing, oil and gas and transportation sectors ensure the resilience of their industrial networks and protect against cyber security attacks.
The aim is to combine Cisco’s intent-based network architecture with Sentryo’s capabilities. This will enable customers to capture IoT benefits, manage networks and devices at scale, improve collaboration across IT and OT [operational technology] departments, and better protect their assets and data.
Second acquisition this year
The companies earlier collaborated on Cisco’s IoT networking platforms, which was launched in January. The platforms incorporated Sentryo’s Edge Sensor and Cisco’s industrial networking hardware and IOx networking software.
“With the addition of Sentryo, Cisco can offer control systems engineers deeper visibility into assets to optimize, detect anomalies and secure their networks,” wrote Rob Salvagno, vice president of corporate development and Cisco Investments, in a blog post about the acquisition.
Sentryo is Cisco’s second acquisition this year. It bought Singularity for its network analytics technology in January. Last year, Cisco bought six companies including Duo security software.
Cisco was recently named the leader in Industrial Edge Networking by IHS Markit.
