IBM has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Fiberlink Communications, a mobile management and security company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
With Fiberlink’s MaaS360 cloud-based offerings, IBM will expand its bring your own device (BYOD) capabilities to deliver a complete mobile management and security solution through IBM MobileFirst that includes trusted transactions and security intelligence capabilities for mobile apps, users, content and data.
This announcement is another milestone in IBM’s strategy to build the industry’s most comprehensive set of mobile capabilities while eliminating barriers to adoption and accelerating the productivity benefits of mobility. At the same time, IBM is expanding the vision for enterprise mobility management to also include secure transactions between businesses, partners and customers.
"In a mobile first world, clients require a comprehensive mobile management and security offering. Often times they integrate solutions on their own and take on unnecessary risk," said Robert LeBlanc, IBM senior VP, Middleware Software. "To protect and enhance the complete mobile experience, it’s crucial to secure the app, user, content, data and the transaction. The acquisition of Fiberlink will enable us to offer these expanded capabilities to our clients, making it simple and quick to unlock the full potential of mobility."
The announcement builds on the IBM MobileFirst strategy of bringing all mobile resources together in one platform. For example, organisations of all sizes will be able to build secure apps by design with IBM Worklight and IBM Security AppScan, deliver transactions through integrated threat intelligence with Trusteer, and improve the user experience with Tealeaf.
MaaS360 will become part of IBM’s Software as a Service (SaaS) portfolio of more than 100 cloud services. IBM plans to offer MaaS360 on the IBM SoftLayer cloud infrastructure.
MaaS360 is being used across a variety of industries worldwide including financial services, healthcare and manufacturing. Using a cloud-based delivery model, MaaS360 decreases the amount of time and cost required for IT teams to support corporate BYOD programmes. MaaS360 end-users can often enrol devices in less than five minutes with self-service.
Jim Sheward, CEO, Fiberlink, said: "While the proliferation of mobile devices provides great flexibility and agility for organizations, it also increases the complexity to manage and protect corporate data.
"We are looking forward to becoming part of IBM’s strategy to put mobile first and deliver holistic mobile device and app management and security for today’s always-connected workforce."
The acquisition is expected to close later this year and is subject to regulatory review and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
