Off With A Bang

If you were betting on 2006 to be the year of the acquisition, the odds just might be in your favor. The calendar page is barely flipped to the new year and our first acquisition of the 2006 is already in the works. Just a day after the instant messaging management company IMlogic touted its strong 2005, thanks in large part to the surge in attacks using IM as a vehicle, security vendor Symantec disclosed plans to acquire the company as a way to strengthen its own IM management security.The acquisition is hardly out of the blue. The two companies have been partners in the past, and IM is an unfortunately hot area in security, with malicious code using it as a vehicle to enter networks quickly and insidiously

The deal is expected to close sometime next month, provided it gets the government regulators seal of approval. Once that happens, the integration between the two companies' technologies will be expanded. With any luck, this will turn out to be a win-win for customers. And hopefully, at this time next year we will be reading about the radical drop in IM-borne security breaches.