Smart card security company Spyrus Corp, based in San Francisco, California, has acquired internet software security firm Terisa Systems Inc. Terms were not disclosed. The combined company plans to offer a full set of standards-based hardware and software cryptography tools for electronic transactions. The two firms have been collaborating over the last year, and in January announced a strategic partnership. Spyrus says it plans to expand its electronic commerce activities horizontally, into payment, messaging and electronic data interchange systems, and vertically, into the finance and banking, healthcare, postal service and legal markets. Five year-old Spyrus says it will use TerIsa’s knowledge of protocols to add portable networking capabilities to smart cards. The combined firm will retain the Spyrus name, but use Terisa as a brand name.
