EMC confirms Symplified asset gobble

Purchase of technology assets of identity management vendor occurred in early June

EMC has confirmed its security division, RSA, has acquired "certain technology assets" of identity management vendor Symplified.

The storage giant said it would integrate Symplified's technology into RSA's existing Identity solutions after it took advantage of an "unexpected opportunity" to make the purchase in early June.

Symplified was regarded as one among a crop of emerging vendors in the IAM space alongside the likes of Ping Identity.

In an emailed response to CRN, EMC stressed that it did not acquire ongoing Symplified operations.

"We expect Symplified will be continuing to work with its current customers in terms of their relationships," an EMC representative said.

Forrester pinpointed the Colorado-based outfit as one of six leading cloud IAM vendors in a 2012 report alongside Covisint, Lighthouse Security Group, Okta, Simeio Solutions and Verizon.

The wider cloud security market Symplified plays in is set to more than double in size between 2014 to 2019, from $4.2bn to $8.71bn, according to analyst MarketsandMarkets.

"Symplified's technology complements RSA's Identity portfolio," the EMC representative said.

"Its focus on user simplicity through federation; enterprise needs through a breadth of integrations with enterprise resources; and flexibility with both cloud and on-premise deployment options will help enable RSA to continue creating innovative identity solutions to help enterprises ensure secure, convenient access to applications, networks and information across enterprise, mobile and cloud."

Tom Kemp, chief executive of rival vendor Centrify, labelled Symplified a "first-generation" identity-as-a-service vendor from whose "mistakes" subsequent vendors had learned.

"Other issues with Symplified that caused their demise: too many eggs in an OEM basket (Symantec) and competing with vendors who could raise significantly more cash than they could (Centrify, Okta, Ping)," Kemp added.

"Also in the case of Ping and Centrify both vendors have pre-existing markets (Ping = Federation; Centrify = privileged identity management and AD Bridging) that they can use as a "home base" to attack the market and sell into an install base. Symplified in effect did not have a castle and moat that they could attack from."