SecureWorks has agreed to acquire substantially all of the assets of VeriSign’s managed security services (MSS) business. The MSS business enables enterprises to monitor and manage their network security infrastructure, and was previously part of VeriSign’s Enterprise and Security Services disposal group.
Details on the deal, barring the expected date of closing on June 30, were not disclosed.
John Pescatore, analyst of Gartner, said that the VeriSign unit acquisition will allow SecureWorks to bulk up and grow fast. He further commented that SecureWorks is one of the few remaining pure-plays in the managed services market. Such companies need to keep growing, so that they can be price-competitive.
SecureWorks operates in network monitoring and helps protect against online threats such as hacking of financial and other information.
In 2004, VeriSign acquired Guardent to augment its existing managed security services unit and compete against the likes of Symantec that had bought RipTech a year earlier.
Currently, VeriSign’s new management has reportedly been considering to see off some of its non-core assets to focus more on core products. MSS was among those under consideration for divestiture.
