Websense completes SurfControl buyout

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 04 October 2007 06:44

IT Industry - Listed Tech

Websense has acquired content security company SurfControl for approximately £204 million ($US415 million, $AU470 million).

The deal doubles Websense's customer base to 50,000-plus organisations with more than 42 million employees.

The expanded Websense product range covers web security, and email and spam filtering, offered as locally-installable software, an appliance, and as a hosted service.

"Content is the lifeblood of business, and its value makes it the next battleground in security," said Websense CEO Gene Hodges. "Only Websense offers customers content protection solutions that combine deep knowledge of the Internet with precise understanding of their information to create powerful policies that govern who can use content, where it can go, and how it can get there.  We will leverage these capabilities, as well as our increased scale and international reach, to drive continued innovation in content protection and meet the challenges of a changing threat environment."

Websense has promised SurfControl customers continuing support until 2011; an enhanced threat database through the addition of Websense's lists; price protection for the first renewal of current SurfControl Web Filter and Mobile Filter subscriptions; continued development of SurfControl E-mail Filter, MailControl and WebDefense; and the provision of forums for ongoing customer communication.

"We hope to prove to SurfControl customers and resellers that Websense is a trustworthy partner with the vision, products, support and services to play an expanded role in their security strategy," said Hodges.