Is McAfee set to acquire Solidcore systems?

McAfee, one of the world's largest security technology companies, is set to take over Solidcore Systems, a provider of dynamic whitelisting technology.

Both the companies have entered into an agreement with McAfee paying $33 million in cash up front and an earn-out of up to an additional $14 million if certain performances targets are met. Following the agreement, McAfee expects to couple Solidcore's dynamic application whitelisting with McAfee blacklisting or graylisting capabilities to give customers a single security platform for dynamic application control across the enterprise. Solidcore uses dynamic whitelisting technology to protect against vulnerable or malicious applications and ensure that only pre-authorized software and code can run on servers, endpoints, fixed function devices and mobile devices.

This acquisition will provide McAfee with an added heft to tackle various security challenges and help users to safely connect to the internet, browse and shop the web more securely. Solidcore's strong foot hold in market will also help McAfee to extend its reach to ATMs, Point of sale (POS) systems, Multifunction Printers (MFPs), Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, mobile and other embedded devices.

Post-acquisition, the Solidcore team will be incorporated into the McAfee Risk and Compliance business unit, headed by George Kurtz, SVP and GM of McAfee.

The acquisition, which is expected to close in the second quarter of this year, is McAfee's third major buy-out since it took over Secure Computing for $500 million in August 2008.

Agencies