Trend Micro has entered into an agreement to acquire anti-spyware product developer, InterMute.
Trend Micro will pay about $15 million for InterMute, which only consists of around 35 people.
“Trend Micro continues to be wholly focused on providing our customers with security solutions that offer advanced protection against unpredictable, malicious threats,” said Eva Chen, CEO and co-founder of Trend Micro. “Spyware continues to evolve and cause concern and damage, but not all spyware can be handled the way viruses and worms are. Customers need effective solutions to remove spyware, but must also be given the flexibility on how to manage it. The acquisition of InterMute further strengthens our ability to execute upon our anti-spyware strategy and their technology and products are entirely complementary to our own. We expect to deliver combined solutions to market quickly.”
According to Reuters,
Trend Micro got about 10 percent of its total 2004 revenues from its anti-spyware offering and expects that portion to rise in 2005, said Lane Bess, the company’s North America president.
Bess declined to provide a specific projection on how much more the company expects its anti-spyware products to generate as a portion of total revenue in 2005.
“Since 1999, we have seen the security business change form and the damaging effects of spyware increase dramatically,” said Ed English, CEO of InterMute. “This is an exciting time to pursue such a venture with Trend Micro. Given the complexity of threats like spyware and our customers’ needs for an integrated, comprehensive approach to dealing with it, I can think of no better response than to join forces and deliver a more advanced, complete solution for our customers.”
Trend Micro plans to offer InterMute’s stand-alone anti-spyware products under the Trend Micro brand. The company also plans to integrate InterMute’s anti-spyware capabilities into its own products.
Chris is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest ebusiness news.
