Friday, May 6, 2011

IT security merger: Sophos acquires Astaro

By Michelle Lang

Sophos plc, a U.K. data security software firm with North American headquarters in Burlington, has signed a deal to buy network security company Astaro, based in Wilmington, as well as Karlsruhe, Germany.

The acquisition is expected to provide updated endpoint and network security solutions. Sophos noted on its website that there’s a need for a single IT platform to provide firewall, VPN, IPS security protection, and email, web and application control.

Astaro is “the fourth largest dedicated unified threat management provider,” the news release today said.

Privately-held Astaro, founded in 2000, has a portfolio that includes its full network security platform, log management and email archiving cloud service.

Sophos indicated in an interview with Mass High Tech in May 2010 that its plans for growth specifically include an acquisition strategy. “In Massachusetts, there’s a lot of interesting and very innovative security companies,” said Rainer Gawlick, chief marketing officer of Sophos, in the interview. “It gives us very fertile ground to do prospecting, sighting new companies we can add to our portfolio.” At the time, Sophos VP of Corporate Strategy Arabella Hallawell said that the goal for the company was to build its endpoint security leadership.

Sophos employs more than 200 people in Massachusetts.