EMC’s $2.1 billion acquisition of RSA Security is both a sign of the growing priority companies place in security and a recognition there is finite growth in storage solutions, according to one analyst.
As internetnews.com previously reported, Joe Tucci, EMC’s chairman, president and CEO said the company would tightly integrate RSA’s technology with EMC products.
The acquisition of RSA wasn’t a snap decision. “Security was on their mind for some time,” said Sal Capizzi, analyst with the Yankee Group.
The combination of EMC provides the marketing muscle and customer base that will enable RSA to become a security technology provider for storage customers.
“EMC customers will likely choose RSA’s technology,” Capizzi added. Most relied on separate outside companies. Now EMC has an industry- leading technology they own, according to the analyst.
Capizzi called the purchase of RSA a big piece of EMC’s strategy of expanding into the security sector. EMC has explained that its security focus involves four areas: helping customer assess the security of their information, securing the infrastructure, protecting sensitive information and managing security information and events.
As part of its goal to manage information flow, in March EMC acquired privately-held Authentica, which helps companies and governments secure information.
For Capizzi, the central question will be whether EMC will continue to support non-RSA security solutions.
EMC’s acquisitions show it is working to become a company that provides more than data storage.
This isn’t the first time a storage company has wed a security firm. In a bit of a role reversal, security giant Symantec in 2004 acquired storage company Veritas in a $10.5 billion deal which began producing products last year. The union’s E-mail Security and Availability product scans mail for spam and viruses while managing e-mail archiving via Veritas’s Enterprise Vault technology.
