Arxceo Attacks Bad Traffic

Just a year after its launch, security startup Arxceo Corp. is close to clinching $1.1 million in Series B funding and is about to unveil its first product.

Chandler Hall, the companys cofounder and vice president of marketing told NDCF that Arxceo has already received checks for most of the $1.1 million, as well as commitments for the remainder. The round is expected to close next month.

Although he was unwilling to give too much away, Hall confirmed that a private equity fund contributed a large chunk of the round, along with private investors. No VCs were involved. “We think that we have got enough to get us to the next level,” says Hall.

So who are Arxceo and what do they do? The company was founded in December 2003, raised $400,000 in seed funding the following month, and now has around a dozen employees. Based in Huntsville, Ala., Arxceo’s core offering is the Ally IP1000, a security device that sits in front of a firewall and inspects Web traffic before it enters the network.

But there is one big difference between the technology used by Arxceo and some of the other security vendors, who often rely on specific data, such as a virus signature, to identify an attack. The Ally IP1000 is what is known as an "anomaly-based" system. This means the device searches for certain types of Web traffic, or more specifically, unusual behavior.