nPulse Acquired by FireEye

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nPulse Technologies, Crozet’s spunky contender in the world of cyber security, has been acquired by San Jose, California-based FireEye, a leading international cyber security firm.

“We got absorbed,” said nPulse founder Randy Caldejon. “We’ve proved the business model. It’s a technology acquisition.” He said all the company’s current employees will remain in Crozet.

“FireEye is a billion-dollar company,” said Caldejon. “They are considered small. But they are an up-and-coming company. They take a next-generation approach to cyber security. We’ve taken a similar approach, so it’s a cultural match. They’re like us, a very agile and forward-looking company. Everybody at FireEye has been very welcoming. There’s a great synergy with them.

“This is part of their big strategy. One of those goals is network forensics. They want to be able to detect, react and contain [cyber attacks]. They also acquired Mandiant, out of Alexandria. They are premier thinkers on cyber security. Mandiant does react and contain. Our box helps them react. It’s like the flight data recorder.”

Dennis Edwards and Randy Caldejon
Dennis Edwards and Randy Caldejon

Mandiant released a report in February that directly implicated China in cyber espionage.

“We want to be the best in network forensics. For FireEye, it makes sense to acquire us.

‘I’m really proud that the jobs are going to stay in Crozet and we’ll continue to work as a group,” said Caldejon. “We’ll probably add four to as many as 10 jobs for engineers this year. Every employee has benefitted from the deal. Everyone got stock options, better pay and better benefits. We went from having a sales force of five to having 405. FireEye has global offices. Their name has meaning in the industry.

“We gave them a road map—we call it cyclone—and that’s what they want us to complete. That will take us into 2015. That’s why we need to grow.”

The company’s engineers are under the direction of Dennis Edwards, who holds a Ph.D. in computer science. He invented the algorithm “that can find a needle in a haystack faster than any of the competition,” said Caldejon. “Dennis’s algorithm does it in less than a minute. That was done here in Crozet.”

“We’re really happy to be staying here,” added Edwards.

nPulse will now be FireEye’s Enterprise Forensics Group and Caldejon will be Chief Technology Officer. He founded nPulse and remained chair of its board after other investors joined in.

“We’ll continue to be involved in the community,” said Caldejon. nPulse has been the sponsor of Western Albemarle High School’s Robotics Club.