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Network Associates Inc. on Friday wrapped up an eventful—and very expensive—week with the announcement that it is buying Entercept Security Technologies Inc. for $120 million in cash. This is the second major acquisition in three days for NAI, which also purchased IntruVert Networks Inc. for $100 million on Tuesday.
Both Entercept and IntruVert sell intrusion-prevention products, although they take distinctly different approaches to the problem of preventing attacks. While IntruVert concentrates on network-based protection and sells its solution in dedicated appliances, Entercepts software is designed to protect individual servers. Entercept has separate versions of its software for databases, Web servers and enterprise servers.
Executives at NAI, based in Santa Clara, Calif., say that the companys long-term strategy is to provide customers with products geared around the concept of intrusion protection. Historically, NAI has been focused mainly on anti-virus software, firewalls, encryption and other traditional security technologies.
This weeks acquisitions show that the company is not interested in standing by while other vendors such as Cisco Systems Inc. and Symantec Corp. add new technologies to their arsenals.
Cisco, based in San Jose, Calif., started the current feeding frenzy on start-ups when it acquired Okena Inc. for $154 million in stock in January. Ironically, Cisco was in negotiations to acquire Entercept before deciding instead to buy Okena.
Founded as ClickNet Security Technologies, Entercept released its first intrusion prevention product in 1999. The San Jose-based company has focused mainly on the government and large enterprise markets.
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