Taking everyone by surprise, security vendor McAfee announced that it has been purchased by Intel, in a move that costs $7.67 billion dollars and will surely leave an impression on the security network industry.

McAfee has long been known as one of the security network giants, and with this acquisition by Intel, many are questioning Intel’s motivations. It’s been suggested that Intel’s purchase can be credited to visualization. Having a large security company on board will help with their strong support of this, allowing Intel to bring security to virtualized infrastructure.

Others speculate that Intel’s futuristic outlook on internet appliances explain the purchase of Intel. Appliances with connections to the internet are becoming commonplace and go way beyond phones and computers. TV’s are already coming with internet connectivity, and eventually these connections will need to be secured. Eventually all devices will have this connectivity, if the trend continues, and Intel will be ready to protect with McAfee.

Whatever the reason, Intel has just secured their place in the market with their purchase of McAfee. How this affects the security industry remains to be seen, but certainly, everyone will be re-evaluating their portfolios with this news.