McAfee Buys Secure Computing for $465 Mln

Security software maker McAfee has announced a plan to buy Secure Computing for $465 million, taking McAfee into the network security arena.

Most computer users are familiar with McAfee as a make of antivirus and security software—they’re currently the second-largest security software vendor in the world. Now, the company is looking to expand its business in securing networks and cloud computing services, announcing a definitive agreement to acquire Secure Computing in a deal values at about $465 million.

“Today’s announcement of this pending acquisition is a natural extension of McAfee’s security-only focus,” said McAfee CEO and president Dave DeWalt, in a statement. “We believe that this pending acquisition will allow us to immediately establish a leading and highly competitive position in the network security space.”

Secure Computing specializes in network security hardware, services, and software products usually deployed on networks and within large organizations to protect their systems and users. By buying Secure Computing, McAfee immediate catapults itself into the top tier of network security vendors, offering complete network security solutions to small, medium, and large organizations. The acquisition will also enable McAfee to extend its cloud-based security offerings, as well as move forward with content and data lifecycle management solutions: archiving, cataloging, and managing enormous amounts of information these organizations can’t throw away, but don’t need to keep around clogging their systems, either.

NcAfee believes the combined company will have revenues around $500 million per year just in the network security management segment; if that plays out, that would make the $465 million price for Secure Computing something of a steal.

Secure Computing has over 22,000 customers in 106 countries.