Security management provider Absolute Software, which specializes in protecting data kept on notebooks, tablets and smartphones and in wiping off data remotely if a device is lost or stolen, acquired privately held Palisade Systems, a data security and data loss prevention (DLP) provider for the enterprise.
Absolute wasn’t absolute about the financial end of the deal; in fact, it did not provide any details on the transaction, announced on June 25.
Palisade, based in Des Moines, Iowa, makes enterprise security software for Web monitoring and filtering, data monitoring and DLP that runs on its proprietary PacketSure data security platform.
PacketSure is a network appliance that protects private data and controls network traffic. Other products incllude PacketGuard, an appliance that protects various machines from unauthorized access; PacketDecoy, a device that intercepts hackers, gathers information about the intruders, and alerts about the unauthorized access; and ScreenDoor, which monitors and blocks Internet access.
Most of Palisade’s customers are in the health care, corporate enterprise, government and education verticals, which will open new markets for Absolute. These regulated organizations use Palisade to monitor and secure sensitive and proprietary intellectual property in company networks and user devices.
Absolute’s bread-and-butter app is called Computrace, a government risk and compliance (GRC) application used on mobile devices.
“This acquisition dovetails straight into our government risk compliance and data security messaging for Computrace, and we really believe that as we take this technology and incorporate it into Computrace to deliver a software-as-a-service (SaaS), cloud-managed endpoint DLP platform, it will be very exciting for our customers,” Absolute COO Rob Chase told eWEEK.
“We have more than 5.5 million computers calling us every single day, and pretty much all of them need this kind of service.”
Absolute, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, provides security and tracking software for PCs, Macs, iOS, Android, Windows and BlackBerry devices. Thanks to the current bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend in enterprises, Absolute’s market sector is an active one at this time.