Trustwave to Acquire M86 Security

Trustwave, a Chicago cloud based, provider of on-demand data security and payment card industry compliance management solutions, has come to an agreement to acquire M86 Security. M86 Security, based in Irvine, CA, is a combination of what were four separate companies several years ago. They may still be better known for some of their parts, Marshal, Avinti, 8e6, and Finjan than they are for the M86 Security name.

M86 Security is one of two Visionaries in the 2011 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Secure Web Gateways, competing against leaders Cisco, Blue Coat Systems (taken private by Thoma Bravo in February), Websense, McAfee, and Zscaler. They offer solutions in Web Security, email security, and have an SMB Security Suite. M86 does not offer the real time defense solution and web application controls that some of their competitors provide. However, they were the first company to deliver a hybrid cloud Web security service. M86 Security’s email security solution is one of the Visionaries in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Secure Email Gateways.

This is a nice acquisition for Trustwave. They gain 26,000 customers. It broadens their already extensive security portfolio. It gives them great brand recognition and entrees in the Secure Web Gateway and Secure email Gateway marketplace. The nice thing about the M86 Secure Web Gateway solution is that it can be deployed as a traditional appliance, virtual appliance, or a hybrid cloud option. Of course, companies like Zscaler, would beg to differ, stating that a cloud solution is the only way to go. Nonetheless, hybrid solutions are nice for companies considering the cloud without having to drink the cloud kool-aid (bit of a mixed metaphor).

M86 Security – Irvine, CA. Trustwave - Chicago. I see the Irvine office remaining.

To learn more about the respective companies - http://www.trustwave.com and http://m86security.com