Symantec has completed its $75 million acquisition of Threat Management firm SecurityFocus.
Symantec has completed its acquisition of threat management solution vendor SecurityFocus, in a deal worth an estimated $75 million. The purchase was first announced in July, alongside deals to buy managed security solutions provider RipTech and network-based intrusion detection specialist Recourse Technologies.
Companies such as Symantec, Network Associates and Computer Associates have traditionally shone in the anti-virus market, with products such as NAI’s McAfee, CA’s InoculateIT and Symantec’s Norton Anti-Virus. However, they have struggled to grow market share in other security areas; Symantec has been trying to solve this through acquisition.
With over 500 customers in 30 countries, RipTech will make Symantec more services-focused. Since Datamonitor expects the market for security services to grow at 24% a year to reach $14.3 billion by 2005, RipTech looks well worth the $145 million purchase price.
The $135 million Recourse acquisition overcomes weaknesses in Symantec’s network-based intrusion detection offering, which is currently rated below solutions from ISS and Cisco. Symantec’s network products should now be able to detect attacks on gigabit speed networks, and work more reliably.
While these acquisitions boost Symantec’s presence in its existing markets, SecurityFocus gives it an edge in the Threat Management market. This is an extension of the vulnerability assessment market, letting companies see which threats will face their networks in the future and which vulnerabilities these threats will exploit. Combined with SecurityFocus’ BugTraq service, Symantec should gain a foothold in a market that, while small now, will almost certainly be important in the future.
Many firms are struggling to keep their product suites looking as strong as the ‘best of breed’ vendors’ offerings – but Symantec has made important strides to fill the gaps in its offering. It must now successfully and quickly integrate its new products with the rest of its solutions – and ensure that its impressive channel structure has the right support to promote them.
Related research: Datamonitor, Global network security markets: third edition (DMTC0839)
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