web security solutions

• Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) announced its intent to acquire privately held ScanSafe, Inc. Based in London and San Francisco, ScanSafe is a market leader of software-as-a-service (SaaS) Web security solutions for organizations ranging from global enterprises to small businesses.
  
  Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco will pay approximately $183 million in cash and retention-based incentives.
  
  The acquisition is subject to various standard closing conditions and is expected to close in the second quarter of Cisco's fiscal year 2010.

It's good news for those in the security business, according to Gartner at least. It is predicting that security software and services spending will outpace other IT spending areas in 2010.

The Gartner report suggests that security software budgets will grow by approximately 4% in 2010, while security services budgets will grow almost 3%.