Cisco Systems confirmed today that it has acquired Rohati Systems, a startup founded by former Cisco security engineers and a product manager. Rohati uses network-based Layer 7 access control lists to define user rights to applications on a per-transaction basis.

Rohati, which emerged from stealth mode in May 2008, sells a multigigabit speed network appliance called Transaction Network System (TNS), which handles user entitlement with per-transaction policies across multiple applications. The company also offers a solution for virtualized servers and cloud-based networks.

"Cisco can confirm that it has acquired privately-held Rohati Systems, a developer of access management solutions for virtualized data centers and cloud-based networks. The employees of Rohati Systems will be joining Cisco's Nexus product team," Cisco said in a statement released today.

Financial and other details of the deal were not disclosed. Cisco's Nexus family of switching products are aimed at the data center environment. Rohati's TNS doesn't include any client agent software, and the company initially pushed the technology as a way to monitor insider threat issues.

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