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If InfoWorld is accurate, Symantec will announce next week that they are acquiring Vontu. This would be consistent with the industry rumors that inspired my earlier post. I have no inside knowledge of this deal. The article states:

Security software giant Symantec is preparing to announce an acquisition of Vontu, one the largest remaining independent providers of data leakage prevention software, which is used to control the flow of sensitive information across corporate networks. Multiple industry sources have confirmed to InfoWorld that Symantec will soon announce a buyout of Vontu, perhaps as early as next week, which will significantly further the trend of consolidation that has played-out in the red-hot DLP (data leakage prevention) space over the last year. … Sources said that the proposed deal will have Symantec paying $300-$350 million for privately-held Vontu, whose revenues are estimated at roughly $30 million per year by some industry analysts. Symantec and Vontu representatives declined to comment on the reported acquisition.

This is a far more significant deal than McAfee’s acquisition of Onigma. Between Symantec, Websense, and EMC/RSA I think McAfee is now in the weakest position for DLP among the larger vendors.

Since it’s late on a Friday, and the deal isn’t confirmed yet, I’ll save full analysis for next week. I think this is positive for Vontu and I hope that Symantec keeps them as independent as possible internally, similar to the Brightmail acquisition, and in opposition to most of their buys. It’s also positive for the remaining independent DLP players, especially Reconnex and Vericept.

More next week…

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