Founded in Israel in 2002, Guardium moved to Boston in 2003, and its roughly 60 employees will each profit from the sale, according to Israeli news reports.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — In a move that could make it a major player in the market for solutions that shield corporate applications from malicious users, technology services provider IBM (www.ibm.com) is likely to announce its $225 million acquisition of database security start-up Guardium (www.guardium.com) this week, according to Israeli financial newspaper TheMarker.
UPDATE: IBM has confirmed it acquired Guardium, however, it did not disclose financial terms.
According to a Reuters article based on the Hebrew report that cited a source close to the company, the deal is expected to close Monday. Founded in Israel in 2002, Guardium moved to Boston in 2003, and its roughly 60 employees will each profit from the sale.
A subsidiary of Israel’s Log-On Software (www.log-on.com), Guardium has raised $21 million in venture capital from funds such as Ascent Venture Partners, Israel’s StageOne Ventures and Veritas, and Cisco Systems.
While IBM’s backing would bolster Guardium’s solutions and add new revenue streams for IBM, there have been mixed reactions about the possible sale.
“IBM’s acquisition of Guardium brings a major player into the data security market, however, in the long run, Big Blue will find that their purchase will not fully meet market needs,” said Shlomo Kramer, chief executive officer of competing database and application security provider Imperva (www.imperva.com).
“Today’s enterprises are shifting away from siloed security products in favor of an integrated approach that protects more than just databases,” he said. “Security professionals need to understand how sensitive data is accessed by internal and external users through business applications to block malicious insiders and hackers. IBM may have just added a new product to their extensive catalog, but they’ve also created a major integration headache if they wish to fully meet customer demands.”
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