BizJournal is reporting that CloudFlare, after recently raising $525 million in its IPO, has purchased S2 Systems.
CloudFlare is a web infrastructure and security company and “is one of the world’s largest networks.” The CloudFlare service “protects websites from all manner of attacks, while simultaneously optimizing performance.” CloudFlare allows websites to scale with demand and ensures high performance with data centers in 200 cities around the world.
S2 creates browser isolation technology. This is a relatively new approach to browser security “that allows customers to launch browser code in the cloud rather than users’ devices. This technology is designed to be more secure.” As a result, if there is malicious code, the customer’s computers are insulated from the potential attack.
The purchase is a logical addition to CloudFlare’s suite of security tools, and the company had been looking for some time at adding the capability. According to BizJournal, the company had approached a number of startups, as well as Symantec, to explore different options. S2 was the only one that the right blend of performance and security.
“They have a similar culture and outlook as us. We have an engineering-driven culture where we like to tackle big hard tasks. I think that resonated with S2. We also are interested in making the Internet more accessible to the other half of the world who does not have it. This is part of our larger vision that we share,” CEO Matthew Prince told BizJournal’s Dawn Kawamoto.
In spite of this acquisition, Prince said the company does not plan to go on a purchasing spree, preferring home-grown solutions.