EMC last week announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire data security software maker RSA Security for approximately $2.1 billion.
 
EMC plans to integrate RSA`s identity management, encryption, and key-management technologies with its entire line of storage hardware and software products. The acquisition is expected to be completed late in the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

``Our stated goal is to grow five of our business areas to one billion dollars each-VMware, content management, resource management, virtualization, and now security,`` says Joe Tucci, EMC`s chairman, president and CEO. EMC had a small amount of revenue in the security space, but has high expectations for its now formidable security portfolio. Tucci says that EMC`s security business will start at a run rate of about $500 million in 2007.

RSA`s products run the gamut from smart cards and USB authenticators all the way up the IT stack to enterprise-class identity management and access control technologies.

Rob Sadowski, director of marketing for EMC`s security division, says the acquisition will allow EMC to ensure that its products aren`t the source of any vulnerabilities in the data center. ``We will take RSA`s authentication, authorization, and cryptography and build those capabilities into our storage platforms, backup software, and archiving software to make it pervasive. We are going to make it as seamless and transparent to users as possible. Customers don`t want to buy a box to secure another box,`` says Sadowski.

EMC launched a new security strategy last May with a focus on securing data through its lifecycle. RSA`s technology, specifically its encryption and key management tools, will soon serve as the core of EMC`s security portfolio, according to Sadowski.

Once the deal is sealed later this year, RSA will operate as EMC`s Information Security Division, headquartered in Bedford, MA. RSA`s president and CEO, Art Coviello, will become an executive vice president of EMC and president of the division.

Source