Blue Coat Systems Grabs Elastica in $280 Million Acquisition

Blue Coat Systems has acquired Elastica to the tune of $280 million, giving the company access to a host of new Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) solutions.

By bringing Elastica’s security solutions into its portfolio, Blue Coat said it hopes to create a more nuanced portfolio for its thousands of global customers. The acquisition will also allow for the creation of the first “global security platform” capable of protecting user data that resides on-premises, in the cloud, or a combination of the two. Blue Coat said this will be especially helpful for born-in-the-cloud companies trying to navigate an increasingly complex IT landscape.

“As we evaluated many CASB players, it was clear that Elastica’s technologies represent the future of the CASB space,” said Greg Clark, Blue Coat CEO, in a statement. “Segmented CASB players have survived through their dependency upon existing on-premise infrastructure. As the industry’s leading web security platform, it is natural for Blue Coat to be the first to deliver an extended spectrum of CASB capabilities while also delivering them with our cloud protection solutions.”

Chief among Elastica’s offerings is the company’s Cloud Security Ops Center (CloudSOC) platform, which allows users to gain transaction-level security for cloud apps and services through a single pane of glass, according to the company’s website. Capabilities are delivered through Elastica’s CASB gateway and API controls.

Blue Coat did not mention whether it plans to institute any personnel changes to Elastica once the acquisition is complete.

“Given the rapid acceleration of cloud adoption, our holistic data science-powered approach to cloud access security will enhance Blue Coat’s globally deployed security platform, empowering its customers to confidently and securely take advantage of the speed and agility that cloud applications offer,” said Rehan Jalil, CEO and founder of Elastica. “Together we are delivering the industry’s strongest set of enterprise cloud security capabilities.”

Blue Coat’s purchase of Elastica is the company’s second major purchase this year as the security vendor looks to establish dominance in the CASB market. In August, Blue Coat purchased Perspecys, a California-based enterprise cloud data protection solution provider under the auspices of bolstering its security and hybrid cloud portfolio.

The company also unveiled the Alliance Ecosystem of Endpoint Detection and Response to create a network for sharing security threat information.