Cisco is spending nearly $300 million on CloudLock, a startup that aims to allow customers to monitor and secure their data held on third-party cloud servers.

Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) revealed Tuesday that it will pay $293 million in cash and "assumed equity awards," as well as offering retention bonuses for employees at Waltham, Mass.-based CloudLock that stay on. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of Cisco's fiscal 2017 year, or later this calendar year.

Cisco says the deal will further enhance its security portfolio and build on its Security Everywhere strategy, which is supposed to protect businesses and users from the cloud on down. It also gives Cisco a big leg-up in the recently minted Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) sector. CloudLock, which says it has "security for any cloud application, including those you buy and build," claims over 700 customers in 150 countries, and now secures 10 million enterprise users. (See Cisco Builds Its House on the Cloud.)

Read the latest on issues around network security in our security section
here on Light Reading.

"As enterprises are retooling themselves and increasingly building their futures in the cloud, security has not only become a top business priority, it is now universally demanded by businesses and individuals alike as a necessity to keep their cloud applications, their data, and their businesses safe," writes Gil Zimmermann, CEO of CloudLock in a letter on the acquisition.

CloudLock uses APIs to enable enterprises to monitor content across third-party cloud platforms. It works with major platforms, such as Amazon AWS, Google Apps and Microsoft's Office 365. (See Amazon Web Services Makes Amazon Inspector Available to All Customers.)

CloudLock, which started in 2007 as Aprigo, will be Cisco's first major security acquisition of 2016. The CloudLock team will join Cisco’s Networking and Security Business Group under SVP and General Manager David Goeckeler.

— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading