Cloudera Buys Big Data Security Firm

Big data giant Cloudera, which two months ago announced a massive $740m in financing from chip maker Intel, has acquired a data security start-up, Gazzang, for an undisclosed sum.

Intel's investment for an 18% stake valued Cloudera, founded only in 2008, at around $4.1bn, and closely followed on smaller (but still very large) investments from Google Ventures, T. Rowe Price, and an affiliate of Michael Dell's family investment vehicle, MSD Capital.

The latest move brings Gazzang's team into Cloudera to form the hub of a new Center for Security Excellence, which will cover data and cluster security technologies; security testing and certification; and partner enablement and certification, including the development of security integration APIs. The buy thus addresses rapidly developing requirements for compliance including HIPAA and the EU Data Protection Directive.

CEO Tom Reilly (pictured) comments: 'Data security is no longer a checkbox for IT organizations or operations departments, it has become a top business priority. At the same time compliance requirements for protecting data continue to expand in scope where data access comes under scrutiny. We're entering a whole new era with the rise of the Industrial Internet and the Internet of Things where there is vastly more data being streamed from billions of devices. Centralizing and accessing that net-new data to unlock its value is therefore a challenge when you consider the security requirements. That's what we're solving now.'

Gazzang, headquartered in Austin, Texas, is online at www.gazzang.com and its new owner at www.cloudera.com .