IBM buys Watchfire to boost security expertise

Stuart Corner
Monday, 11 June 2007 10:55

Business IT - Technology

Commenting on the deal, Technology Business Research (TBR) said "TBR does not believe Watchfire’s product will eliminate the need for separate enterprise security product and services, but building enhanced security into new and existing products is another way to increase the overall security of corporate IT assets...Consolidation in the software security market has been evolving at a rapid pace of the past year, but this acquisition is the first that is specifically focused on product testing and development...Due to IBM’s existing presence in development tools with Rational, TBR believes IBM was in a unique position to benefit from the acquisition of Watchfire."

TBR suggests that IBM is well placed to leverage Watchfire's capabilities. "While many vendors throughout the software industry, including Cisco, EMC, and HP are bolstering their security assets, none have the strong presence in development tools possessed by IBM. The Rational product set and development process is widely used throughout the software industry, and TBR believe this existing presence and customer base will allow IBM to fully leverage and expand the presence of Watchfire.

According to Graham Titterington, principal analyst at Ovum, the deal raises questions about Watchfire's existing partnerships. "This is a specialist area in which all the players are relatively small and the acquisition is indicative of IBM's desire to be as comprehensive as possible in its offerings. The main area for speculation is what will happen to Watchfire's existing partnerships. At the moment its partnership with Mercury Interactive accounts for a large part of its business, reflecting Mercury's position in the automated testing market. Mercury Interactive became HP Mercury last year, following its acquisition by HP, and so it is hard to see this relationship not being disrupted.

"A partnership with Fortify Software, a similar sized privately held company that already has a relationship with IBM should prove less contentious. The latter is technically valuable as Fortify provides 'white box' testing while Watchfire provides 'black box' testing. Fortify is therefore more relevant for testing during code development, and Watchfire for compliance testing. It would be logical for IBM to bring Fortify fully into the fold as well."