Cisco is set to acquire French cyber-security firm Sentryo, with which it has worked to author digital change solutions in the industrial IoT sector.
Headquartered in Lyon, France, Sentryo provides device visibility and security solutions for industrial control system (ICS) networks, promising availability and resiliency of industrial systems and fighting against cyberattacks.
The company targets enterprises in the energy, manufacturing, oil and gas, and transportation sectors. It has offices and partners in various geographies. The acquisition is expected to close before the end of October, pending regulatory approval.
Rob Salvagno, vice preisdent for corporate development at Cisco Systems, said: “By combining Cisco’s intent-based network architecture with Sentryo’s capabilities, customers can capture IoT benefits, manage networks and devices at scale, enable collaboration across IT and OT departments, and better protect their assets and data.”
Cisco and Sentryo have worked together already. Cisco has incorporated Sentryo’s edge sensor with its own industrial networking hardware with IOx application framework, expanded in January to extend intent-based IoT networking to the edge.
Salvagno commented: “We believe that connectivity is foundational to IoT projects and by unleashing the power of the network we can dramatically improve operational efficiencies and uncover new business opportunities. With the addition of Sentryo, Cisco can offer control systems engineers deeper visibility into assets to optimize, detect anomalies and secure their networks.”
The pair collaborated to provide an IT/OT data management solution to Vinci Energies, part of French conglomerate Vinci, which builds “massive manufacturing networks”, often with “hundreds of thousands of components” for clients in various industrial sectors, including the automotive industry.
Cisco and Sentyro handled the challenge of joining OT and IT environments for Vinci Energies. Sentryo’s network monitoring solution gives “visibility, integrity and security” for industrial control systems. It has enabled Vinci Energies to connect its OT domain and pursue digital change with security assurances in place.
It has integrated into the Cisco IOx environment, as part of the project. “The result of a year of collaboration and work with Cisco, this flexible solution, adapted specifically for the industrial world, provides visibility, integrity and security directly at the edge of the industrial IoT network,” said Sentyro.
Laurent Hausermann, chief operating officer at Sentryo, said: “Our combined solution lets customers collect data in a very efficient way, to provide high-end cybersecurity services. That’s the true value add. Our customers don’t have to add anymore hardware. With a Cisco switch on their network, they have automatic deployment of the new software directly to the network edge.”
Hausermann added: “Instead of spending months or years to deploy new hardware appliances, they can push the software out in a few days. The process is much faster, you can do it remotely, and you don’t have to spend time and money on manual deployment.
“Improved visibility into the network lets our end customers discover unknown machines and better understand what’s really happening on their network. They might be unaware of a server that’s been connected and is running, creating an impact on their production systems. Our solutions help them mitigate shadow IT initiatives and minimize failures, so they can maximize business continuity.”
