Security management provider Absolute Software, which specializes in protecting data kept on notebooks, tablets and smartphones, said Nov. 5 that it is acquiring privately held LiveTime Software, a provider of cloud-based and on-premises help desk and IT service support management.
Absolute wasn’t specific about the transaction details, saying only that the acquisition was made for less than $15 million, eWEEK was told.
Absolute, based in Vancouver, B.C., 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.
Acquisition Will Open New Market
LiveTime Service Manager, the company’s front-line product, will help Absolute branch out in its business. The social network-type software enables IT teams to become more active in their organization’s business strategy by giving them a platform to migrate their services from reactive incident response to a holistic approach involving the entire business, its processes and workflows.
Using LiveTime, IT can provide improved customer assistance, implement better workflows for service requests, incidents, change requests, releases and service-level agreements, and audit compliance with policies and regulations. All this is done through an easy-to-use, highly scalable, Web-based service platform that works on the same devices as Absolute’s existing solutions.
How Absolute Works
Absolute’s security and tracking software recently was credited with helping a school recover several notebooks stolen during a break-in at the site. Millfields Primary School in Essex, U.K., had suffered two such burglaries, resulting in a number of laptops being stolen that were never recovered.
Following the second burglary, Absolute called the school to offer assistance. The company installed its tracking software onto the replacement laptops. When a third theft took place nine months later, Absolute’s software managed to track down the devices, which were then recovered by Essex police.
Derek Skinner, regional recoveries director at Absolute, told IT Pro that “the tracking agent within the device is fairly benign most of the time, but when the device becomes stolen, we can activate it, which means it will call every 15 minutes over the Internet.”
Absolute can deploy forensic tools to trace the device and use its team of former police officers to compile evidence for post-theft prosecutions, Skinner said.
Founded in 1999, privately held LiveTime Software is headquartered in Newport Beach, Calif. It has offices in Australia and the United Kingdom with a large distribution network.