Network management vendor Micromuse last week announced plans to acquire GuardedNet, a small security information management company, for about $16.2 million in cash.

Micromuse representatives say the deal, expected to close by the end of September, will help the company deliver more specialized security management offerings to its enterprise and service provider customers. Its Netcool for Security Management collects and filters events, says Peter White, vice president of packaged solutions at Micromuse, but not with the same intelligence and depth that GuardedNet's neuSecure product can.

"GuardedNet has technology that classifies and interprets security data in a much more sophisticated manner than what Micromuse currently does," White says. "GuardedNet also has advanced reporting and compliance-specific reports that we don't have at all. The company offers a security product for a security professional, and Micromuse is for the network. We are going to bring those worlds closer together."

SIM products, also referred to as security event management (SEM), typically consist of software, servers and agents, or probe appliances that collect logs from devices. The resemblance to network management tools is obvious, but SIM tools are said to contain more intelligence specific to security events. For example, a CheckPoint firewall may generate an alert that doesn’t register as a threat to a network management tool, but a SIM product could determine through embedded intelligence that the alert indicates a network hack attempt.

Industry watchers say Micromuse's acquisition plans indicate that the company is looking to broaden its sales strategy in enterprise accounts.

"Clearly [this is] a technology driven acquisition that enhances Micromuse's security story. The keys to success for Micromuse in this market is to clearly identify their install base that is looking to integrate security and networking, and to present a sales team [that] has credibility with both buying centers," says Stephen Elliot, a senior analyst with research firm IDC.  "It's a smart deal because it plays to the growing demands of network managers [for] more security, visibility and [to] quickly assess the network's vulnerability."