Cisco announced today that it has entered an agreement to acquire security firm Sourcefire in a deal worth $2.7 billion. Cisco wil pay $76 per share in cash for all shares of Sourcefire, and will assume outstanding equity awards. Retention-based incentives are included in the price.

Sourcefire reported $223.1 million in revenue last year (up 35% from the prior year). The company was founded in 2001, and went public in 2007. It’s based in Columbia, Maryland.

“‘Buy’ has always been a key part of our build-buy-partner innovation strategy,” said Hilton Romanski, VP, Cisco Corporate Development. “Sourcefire aligns well with Cisco’s future vision for security and supports the key pillars of our security strategy. Through our shared view of the critical role the network must play in cybersecurity and threat defense, we have a unique opportunity to deliver the most comprehensive approach to security in the market.”

“The notion of the ‘perimeter’ no longer exists and today’s sophisticated threats are able to circumvent traditional, disparate security products. Organizations require continuous and pervasive advanced threat protection that addresses each phase of the attack continuum,” said Christopher Young, SVP, Cisco Security Group. “With the acquisition of Sourcefire, we believe our customers will benefit from one of the industry’s most comprehensive, integrated security solutions – one that is simpler to deploy, and offers better security intelligence.”

“Cisco’s acquisition of Sourcefire will help accelerate the realization of our vision for a new model of security across the extended network,” said Sourcefire founder and CTO Martin Roesch. “We’re excited about the opportunities ahead to expand our footprint via Cisco’s global reach, as well as Cisco’s commitment to support our pace of innovation in both commercial markets and the open source community.”

The boards of both companies have already approved the acquisition, which is expected to close later this year. It’s still subject to customer closing conditions and regulatory reviews.