Blue Coat Gets VC Money, Makes Acquisition

Security appliance maker Blue Coat Systems had a big day June 23, announcing a $42 million investment by venture capital firms Francisco Partners and Sequoia Capital and using an unspecified portion of the money to acquire the assets of the NetCache business from its Sunnyvale, Calif., neighbor, Network Appliance.

NetApps NetCache product line is a scalable suite of Web delivery and security appliances. NetCache appliances currently power a number of large telecom networks and are deployed across entire networks—from the primary data center to remote locations and local offices, a NetApp spokesman said.

A Blue Coat spokesman said the company will utilize the moves to further augment the companys mission—to develop and use proxy technology to enable secure and accelerated delivery of applications and content to users.

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Francisco Partners and Sequoia Capital purchased shares of Blue Coat Series A Preferred Stock, which are convertible into 2,400,000 shares of Blue Coat common stock at $17.525 per share for a total value of approximately $42 million, the spokesman said.

The acquisition includes both cash and stock consideration, the spokesman said.

The closing of the asset purchase is subject to customary conditions, and is expected to occur within 90 days, the spokesman said.

Click here to read about Blue Coats purchase of security company Permeo.

Blue Coat and NetApp have entered into a transition services agreement to continue product availability and support for NetCache customers, he added.

"The acquisition of the NetCache business is a critical component of delivering on our vision of secure and accelerated delivery of applications and content to users," said Brian NeSmith, president and CEO of Blue Coat.

"The foundational element of the application delivery infrastructure is the proxy, and existing NetCache customers certainly understand the power of the proxy."

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