Why a Cisco-Axonius Deal Makes Sense, and Why It Might Not

Despite Cisco's Cyber Struggles, the Perks of Offering Asset Management Are Clear Michael Novinson (MichaelNovinson) • January 5, 2026

Cisco has leaned heavily on acquisitions to become the world's third-largest security vendor, trailing only Microsoft and Palo Alto Networks in annual cyber revenue.

See Also: Going Beyond the Copilot Pilot - A CISO's Perspective

The San Jose, California-based networking giant organically built out a network firewall business, then got into SD-WAN by spending $1.2 billion on Meraki in 2012 and $610 million on Viptela in 2017. A year later, Cisco bought its way into identity with the $2.35 billion purchase of unified access security and multi-factor authentication provider Duo Security.

Cisco made its biggest splash in March 2024 with its $28 billion acquisition of Splunk, giving the company a market-leading position in both observability and SIEM. Along the way, Cisco has made dozens of tuck-in security acquisitions ...