Symantec beats chest with double buy

Silverback security vendor bolsters position in encryption market with acquisitions of PGP and GuardianEdge

Symantec announced two acquisitions today

With the alpha-male IT security contest Infosec still raging on, it seems apt that the market’s undisputed heavyweight, Symantec, chose today to announce a double whammy of acquisitions.

The giant vendor has grabbed two email and data encryption vendors – PGP and GuardianEdge – for a combined $370m (£242m) in cash.

Both deals are expected to close in Symantec’s current quarter to June.

Symantec said the two conquests would expand its toe-hold in an encryption market set to reach $1.7bn by 2013, according to IDC.

PGP carried a price tag of $300m while GuardianEdge was bagged for $70m. Symantec will now weave the duo’s encryption technologies with its own endpoint security, data loss prevention and gateway security offerings.

Jon Oltsik, principal analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, said the move would mean Symantec is no longer a laggard in encryption and key management.

“With PGP and GuardianEdge, Symantec gets a geographically-dispersed install base, a leading standards-based key management platform, a PKI SaaS offering, a strong government presence, and encryption coverage from mobile devices to mainframes,” he said.

Francis deSouza, senior vice president, Enterprise Security Group, Symantec, said: “With these acquisitions we can further protect information by using encryption in an intelligent and policy-driven way to give the right users access to the right information, enabling the trust that individuals and organisations need to operate confidently in an information-driven world.”