Intel Leads $20 Million Investment in Network Forensics Firm Solera Networks

Solera Networks, a provider of network forensics and network monitoring solutions, announced today that it has secured $20 million in Series D financing lead by Intel Capital.

Solera Networks’ family of appliances (physical and virtual) capture, store, and index network traffic which can be tapped to provide real-time or historical visibility to threats.

The company’s DeepSee platform provides proactive threat response using Deep Packet Inspection capabilities to capture, index and classify all network traffic in real-time.

The fresh injection of cash will be used to help support the company’s growth and expanding sales, marketing and product development initiatives.

“With increasingly large amounts of data crossing corporate networks, organizations must balance advanced threat prevention with an aggressive and proactive response system to be fully prepared when an inevitable breach occurs. We see companies continuing to realize that real-time, intelligent incident response is now an essential component of their security strategy,” said Sean Cunningham, Intel Capital Investment Director.

Solera’s technology helps provide security teams answers to important questions, such as: “What, precisely, is going on and where? What has been affected or lost? Does a problem still exist somewhere else within the network?” The company competes with NetWitness which was acquired by EMC in April 2011 and integrated into its RSA division.

“Malware entering the network and key intellectual property leaving are top-of-mind for every Chief Information Security Officer, and for Solera Networks. We’re providing complete visibility into what’s happening on the network, including all threats coming in and all data going out, allowing organizations to shut down breaches before they result in widespread loss,” said Steve Shillingford, President and CEO of Solera Networks.

Intel Capital is joined by existing investors Allegis Capital, Signal Peak Ventures and Trident Capital. Solera’s Series D financing round follows a $15 million Series C round raised in July 2010.