TruSecure, Betrusted Merge for Managed Security Services

A trio of security companies will announce a merger on Tuesday, forming Cybertrust, a new company that will offer security services worldwide.

Cybertrust will be formed from risk management vendor TruSecure Corp., of Herndon, Va.; Betrusted Holdings Inc., a New York developer of identity management solutions; and Ubizen NV, a subsidiary of Betrusted based in Leuven, Belgium, that produces the OnlineGuardian software.

The merger brings together companies with expertise spanning a variety of security technologies, including identity management, threat and vulnerability management and public-key encryption. While the agreement is subject to both shareholder and regulatory approval, the new company starts out with $160 million in annual revenue, some 4,000 customers and a staff of 1,000 employees, officials said.

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“Persistent security will be needed to strategically address the vulnerability, threat, compliance and identity issues facing organizations and governments today,” said Cybertrusts CEO John Becker in a statement. He was previously chairman and CEO of TruSecure.

“Cybertrust will become the largest private security services provider in the world,” said Peter Tippett, TruSecure CTO, who will take the same spot with the new company. He said that in terms of services, the new company will be larger than Symantec Corp.

According to Tippett, one major goal of the new company will be to automate many of the services currently provided by the three merging companies. He also noted that Cybertrust will become the second largest provider of certificate and trust services after Verisign Inc.

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Cybertrust will offer solutions as professional or managed services on site and through a new program of accredited “Trustcenters,” officials said.

Tippett added that consulting divisions of all three companies will continue to exist, but that as more and more services are automated, most consulting will be aimed at implementation.

Cybertrusts announcement continues the teeter-totter growth and consolidation in the managed security services space. Late last year Verisign acquired Guardent Inc., a move that analysts expected to bring a wave of consolidation through the industry.

Still, other companies are entering the field. For example, MCI Inc. in April started up a new set of managed security services, including a managed intrusion prevention system (IPS

Wayne Rash contributed to this story.

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