IBM announced today that they are acquiring ISS for $1.3 Billion dollars. This comes out to a $2 per share premium at $28. The big question in my mind is what are they going to do with ISS. IBM hasn’t exactly been pushing their security products for some time. ISS has seemed to be focusing on services, which fits well into IBM’s Global Services strategy. This is probably a play to put IBM’s back on the security services map. I saw another post say that it could be IBM trying to jump start their security product line. Given how they treated the Tivoli line after acquisition I doubt this is the case.
This does present a short term opportunity for ISS competitors. Potential customers will probably hold off until the dust settles before buying ISS products. I second Alan Shimel’s congratulations to the ISS team. Being in the space it’s good to see a security company be successful.
More information here: http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060823/20060823005309.html?.v=1
–Chris
Technorati Tags: IBM, ISS, Internet Security Systems
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