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Just ahead of HP’s historic corporate split, the company announced today that it is selling TippingPoint to Trend Micro in a deal valued at approximately $300 million.
Trend Micro’s acquisition of TippingPoint, expected to close in the first quarter of HP’s fiscal 2016, will mark the third time in a just over a decade that the network security vendor has had a new owner. Networking vendor 3Com acquired TippingPoint in December 2004, and HP bought 3Com in 2010.
Trend Micro’s plan is to combine some of its existing assets with the TippingPoint technologies to build a new Network Defense business unit. As was the case under both 3Com and HP, the Tipping Point name is likely to remain in place.
“Trend Micro intends to retain the TippingPoint brand for its Network Defense line of business,” Steve Quane, executive vice president, Network Defense, Trend Micro, told eWEEK.
TippingPoint builds and develops network security devices, including intrusion-prevention systems (IPS) hardware.
TippingPoint is also known for its research efforts, which include Digital Vaccine Labs (DVLabs) and the Zero-Day Initiative. ZDI is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year as an effort that pays security researchers for vulnerabilities. ZDI also operates the Pwn2own hacking competition, which awards researchers for exploiting Web browsers and mobile devices.
Under Trend Micro’s ownership, DVLabs and ZDI will play key roles, Quane said. “DVLabs and ZDI will continue to operate within our Network Defense line of business, and we will expand and leverage their expertise across the full range of Trend Micro solutions,” Quane said.
HP—which is currently in the final stages of a corporate split, with HP Inc. handing consumer products and printing areas, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise handling the enterprise software and technology assets—isn’t totally abandoning the security business. Among Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s security assets are the ArcSight SIEM (security information and event management), Fortify code and application security portfolio as well as the HP Data Security product groups.
“With the upcoming transition to the new Hewlett Packard Enterprise, we are sharpening our focus on protecting the digital enterprise, investing in offerings that help customers protect users, applications and data and secure the interactions between them regardless of location or device,” HP stated in a blog post. “TippingPoint has been an important component of our security offering, but we have decided to partner in network security as opposed to [owning a business in this space] so we can invest in other areas of our security portfolio.”
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at eWEEK and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.