Tacoma cyber-security firm acquired by Silicon Valley tech company

Tacoma-based cybersecurity company IID was sold to network services provider Infoblox for $45 million, the companies announced Monday.

Santa Clara, California-based Infoblox has more than 8,300 customers and more than 800 employees.

Scott Fulton, executive vice-president of products and corporate development for Infoblox, said the acquisition will make his company stronger.

“IID has threat intelligence on the Internet — all the bad IP addresses, domains, URLs. When that threat intelligence is complemented with network infrastructure on an enterprise customer’s network, it can be very powerful,” Fulton said.

The acquisition of IID, formerly known as Internet Identity, will make it harder for hackers to hijack or disrupt Infoblox customers’ networks and websites.

“We’ve put a lot focus over the years on tracking the infrastructure being used by bad guys on the Internet,” said Lars Harvey, CEO of IID. “That infrastructure is generally represented by domain names and IP addresses.”

Infoblox will maintain IID’s office in Tacoma and most of its 65 employees, Fulton said.

“We intend to maintain a presence here in Tacoma,” Fulton said. “The vast majority of IID employees will join Infoblox. This is an acquisition of talent in many ways.”

Infoblox is a growing company, and that could mean more jobs in Tacoma, Fulton said.

“Tacoma will be an anchor site for us around threat intelligence and, commensurate with Infoblox’s growth, I would expect Tacoma to grow as well,” Fulton said.

In November, IID received $8 million in investment funding for its signature product, its first outside funding in 17 years in business. In September, IID announced some of its products would be integrated into a McAfee security tool.

With the acquisition, Harvey becomes vice president of business development at Infoblox. IID co-founder Rod Rasmussen will become vice-president of cybersecurity.

This story was originally published February 8, 2016 at 9:01 AM with the headline "Tacoma cyber-security firm acquired by Silicon Valley tech company."