Symantec has bought SSL VPN appliances provider SafeWeb.
California-based Symantec has spent $195.6 million on acquisitions so far this year, which is not bad for a company that in late 2002 had no more acquisition plans, according to CEO John Thompson.
The acquisition of SafeWeb adds SSL-based virtual private network technology to Symantec’s portfolio, following the $150 million acquisition of backup and disaster-recovery software vendor PowerQuest in September 2003, and the $19.6 million deal to acquire firewall/VPN appliance maker Nexland in May 2003.
The purchase of SafeWeb will complement Symantec’s existing firewall/VPN appliance products, according to the company. It plans to offer the SafeWeb SSL-based VPN technology as a standalone appliance in the first quarter of 2004 and also to integrate the clientless VPN capabilities into its Gateway Security Appliance line later in the year.
SafeWeb has enjoyed success with its SEA (Secure Extranet Appliance) Tsunami SSL VPN appliance that enables administrators to selectively grant secure remote access to network resources without the need to install additional software on the client.
This is the latest in a series of acquisitions in the SSL VPN space this year. The trend was started by F5 Networks [FFIV], which acquired uRoam for $25 million in July 2003, while NetScreen Technologies [NSCN] paid $265 million for privately held Neoteris earlier this month.
Back in April, SafeWeb CEO Jon Chun characterized SafeWeb as the best potential acquisition of the dozen or so firms in the SSL VPN market. While it is a niche area, SSL VPN is the latest box needing to be ticked by security software vendors, and there are likely to be more acquisitions in this space before the year is out.
This article is based on material originally published by Computerwire
