Network Associates Inc has entered into an agreement to acquire privately-held Secure Networks Inc (SNI) for roughly $25m in a stock transaction. Network Associates, formed by the merger of McAfee Associates Inc and Network General Corp, wanted 25-person SNI mainly for its vulnerability assessment technology, which scans a network to detect security holes in a network. The security scanning technology in SNI’s Ballista product was something Network Associates’ portfolio lacked prior to the acquisition. Ballista will be integrated with Network Associates’ Net Tools Secure suite as part of the company’s efforts to provide a comprehensive security package. The purchase gives Network Associates the last piece of the puzzle needed to offer a complete one-stop security package, according to Peter Watkins, general manager of the Net Tools Secure division. The work that lies ahead will be focused on further integrating all of the technology the company has amassed through its four acquisitions since the initial merger. With integration of virus scan technology at the firewall slated for completion this quarter – something Watkins claims no one else can offer – and remote management capabilities added next quarter, Watkins feels Net Tools Secure will be a completely integrated package by the end of the year. He also refutes the notion that companies such as Check Point Software Technologies Ltd or IBM Corp, both of which have been touting beefed-up security offerings, can provide anything close to what Network Associates can. Watkins boasts that customers will now be able to find the holes in their network, plug them by tuning the firewall, and monitor against further breaches with intrusion detection. Both Watkins and Art Wong, president at SNI, assert that stand-alone scanning products are a thing of the past and will rapidly become suite-based features. Wong also hopes that the sales and marketing infrastructure at Network Associates will vault Ballista past other scanning products such as those from competitor ISS. Network Associates figures that the acquisition, which was about two months in the works, will be non-dilutive and should generate revenue in the near future. Shares in Network Associates closed at $67.125, up $0.75 on the day.
