We’re not even out of the summer and the acquisitions have started. Could be a very lively fall!
Tech industry’s M&As in 2010
First up, CA has announced its intention to acquire Arcot Systems (for $200 million). Arcot, known for its authentication and fraud prevention software, provides their services both as installable software and as an “in the cloud” service.
We last mentioned Arcot in 2007 (“Keeping documents SAFE in the healthcare, pharmaceutical industries,”) when it announced that its SignFort service would allow electronic documents to be signed with SAFE digital signatures from any location without tokens, smart cards or software stored on desktops. Signatures and Authentication for Everyone is a protocol that builds on PKI, adding in two-factor authentication, to create a standard that includes both business policies and technical specifications within the biophsarma sector. Further, the SignFort application provides strong authentication of the user before allowing access to the SAFE credential.
Interestingly, last week’s other acquisition target was also mentioned in that same newsletter. I noted that authentication vendor TriCipher had also recently joined the SAFE-BioPharma Association Vendor Partner Program, announcing that SAFE-approved credentials would seamlessly operate on TriCipher Armored Credential System (TACS), the company’s strong authentication platform leveraging a variety of multi-factor credentials.
VMware, the virtualization company, announced last week it’s intention to acquire TriCipher.
While CA has been active in IdM for a long time, this is the first venture for VMware into that arena.
This all points to the growing realization that, for both cloud services and virtualization, identity services are the key to securing – and expanding – the platforms. We should expect to see a lot more convergence coming in the near future.
Upcoming Event: on Wednesday, Sept. 15 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. EDT Cyber-Ark is hosting a webinar called “Dispel Concerns About Cloud Security and Increase Your Selling Value” featuring The 451 Group’s Steve Coplan (he’s senior analyst with their Enterprise Security Practice). More details here.
