Intel to acquire network security firm Sensory Networks

Intel has signed a deal to acquire Sensory Networks, a provider of software pattern matching technology for network security applications.

Chris Kraeuter, a spokesman at the chip maker, said he could confirm that Intel has signed an agreement to acquire Sensory Networks, but couldn’t comment on the deal terms. Some reports said Intel paid about US$20 million for the company.

Sensory Networks, with headquarters in Mountain View, California, also has a research and development office in Sydney, Australia.

Its HyperScan pattern matching engine can match large groups of regular expressions against blocks or streams of data, making it useful for applications that need to scan large amounts of data at high speed, such as intrusion prevention, antivirus and deep packet inspection systems. It runs entirely in software and has been deployed on a wide range of different processors and operating systems, Sensory Networks said on its website.

Sensory Networks already has partnerships with Intel and its embedded and mobile software subsidiary Wind River, besides alliances with other semiconductor companies such as ARM, Broadcom and Freescale Semiconductor.

Intel subsidiary McAfee acquired in July another security company, Stonesoft, for $389 million. Intel said that technology from the Helsinki, Finland, maker of firewall software would be integrated with McAfee’s products. Intel acquired McAfee in 2011.