vArmour Networks, a pioneer in software-defined security for virtualized data centers, today announced it has raised $6 million in a Series A round of financing led by Highland Capital Partners. This brings the company's total funding to $8 million since its founding in January 2011 by two NetScreen veterans. The new financing will be used to expand the team and to launch vArmour's unique software-defined security solution into the marketplace. As part of the investment, Corey Mulloy , general partner at Highland Capital Partners, joins the board of directors.

Virtualization is being used extensively to make IT more cost effective, flexible and responsive. Already mainstream for computing, virtualization is recently being adopted in storage and networking with the emergence of software-defined storage (SDS) and software-defined networking (SDN) technologies. vArmour will be the first company to take virtualization into the realm of network security, pioneering a new kind of solution called software-defined security (SDSec). SDSec will address the scalability, flexibility and cost challenges that plague current network security technologies, with a focus oneliminating the bottlenecks that have prevented data centers from fully realizing the benefits of compute and network virtualization.

"While computing, networking and storage systems have become more flexible and dynamic with the advent of virtualization, security systems have lagged behind," said Corey Mulloy , general partner at Highland Capital Partners. "vArmour's innovative SDSec solution addresses a large opportunity in the network security market. They have the right team with the right DNA and a compelling technology. vArmour will be an important player in the data center."

"We're extremely excited to join the Highland Capital Partners portfolio," said Roger Lian , co-founder and CEO of vArmour. "Corey and the Highland team have a clear understanding of how virtualization places new demands and opens new opportunities across the IT spectrum. With the benefit of their deep enterprise experience, and our new resources, we're in a great position to further build our team and launch our SDSec solutions into the market."

vArmour's SDSec solutions are currently in evaluation with large enterprises and service providers in the US and internationally. To join the vArmour team, visit www.varmour.com/careers.html.

About vArmour Networks
Privately held and based in Santa Clara, CA, vArmour Networks is the pioneer of software defined security (SDSec). vArmour's SDSec solution brings a scalable, flexible, programmable network security enforcement layer to highly virtualized computing environments in a way that fits; the security now mirrors the environment, rather than contorting the environment to fit the security. While fully compatible with SDN technologies like OpenFlow, vArmour's SDSec solution can be deployed today in both conventional and virtual networking environments. The result: Intelligent security that works like the rest of your virtual data center. To learn more about vArmour, visit www.varmour.com.

About Highland Capital Partners
Founded in 1988, Highland Capital Partners is a global venture capital firm focused on putting the entrepreneur first. With offices in Silicon Valley, Boston and Shanghai, Highland has raised over $3 billion in committed capital and invested in more than 225 companies, resulting in category-defining businesses across consumer and enterprise technology. Investments include 2U, Ask Jeeves, Bromium, Calxeda, Leap Motion, LevelUp, Lycos, MapQuest, Nebula, QD Vision, Qihoo 360, Quattro Wireless, RentJuice, Rent the Runway, Sybase, Violin Memory, VistaPrint and WePay. Highland also serves as a mentor for future entrepreneurs through Summer@HIGHLAND, a program that provides students and university-affiliated startups with the environment and resources to take their initiative to the next level. For more information, visit www.hcp.com.