IBM agreed to acquire privately held Q1 Labs, a developer of security intelligence software, for an undisclosed sum.
Q1 Labs, which is based in Waltham, Massachusetts, provides software that collects and analyzes information from hundreds of sources across an organization, such as the network, applications, user activity, mobile endpoints, and physical security devices such as badge readers - including both cloud-based and on-premise sources. Its security information and event management (SIEM) software also helps IT staff and auditors manage the tracking of security incidents and model risk to better protect customers, while giving executives insight into the security and risk posture of the organization. The company cites more than 1,800 clients globally, including healthcare providers, energy firms, retail organizations, utility companies, financial institutions, government agencies, educational institutions, and wireless service providers.
Q1 Labs' advanced analytics and correlation capabilities can automatically detect and flag actions across an enterprise that deviate from prescribed policies and typical behavior to help prevent breaches, such as an employee accessing unauthorized information.
IBM Managed Security Services is already making available to clients a cloud-based service of Q1 Labs' security information and event management offering.
IBM said the acquisition accelerates its efforts to help clients more intelligently secure their enterprises by applying analytics to correlate information from key security domains and creating security dashboards for their organizations. Following the close of the acquisition, Q1 Labs will join the newly-formed IBM Security Systems division. The new division will be led by Brendan Hannigan, the current CEO of Q1 Labs.
IBM sees a $94 billion opportunity in security software and services with a nearly 12 percent compound annual growth rate. Q1 Labs will join the more than 10 strategic security acquisitions IBM has made in the last decade and the more than 25 analytics-related purchases, including the recently announced acquisition of security analytics software firm, i2.
"Since perimeter defense alone is no longer capable of thwarting all threats, IBM is in a unique position to shift security thinking to an integrated, predictive approach," said Brendan Hannigan , CEO of Q1 Labs. "Q1 Labs' security analytics will add greater intelligence to IBM's security portfolio and continue to distinguish IBM from competitors."
IBM's new Security Systems division integrates IBM's Tivoli, Rational and Information Management security software, appliances, lab offerings and services. IBM plans to apply Q1 Labs' analytics to drive greater security intelligence capabilities across its security products and services such as identity and access management, database security, application security, enterprise risk management, intrusion prevention, endpoint management and network security. http://www.ibm.com/securityhttp://q1labs.com/
- Q1 Labs has significant, strategic OEM partnerships with a number of network infrastructure companies, including Juniper Networks and Enterasys.
- In February 2008, Q1 Labs announced $9 million in Series D funding, bringing total equity investment in the company to $43 million. The funding round was led by Globespan Capital Partners and included other existing investors Menlo Ventures, BDC Venture Capital, Polaris Venture Partners, New Brunswick Investment Management Corporation as well as individual investors.
- Q1 Labs was founded in 2001.
- Last year, HP acquired ArcSight, a provider of network security and compliance management company, in a deal valued at $1.5 billion. ArcSight, which is based in Cupertino, California, provides a platform for gaining visibility and critical insights into IT infrastructure across all users, networks, data centers and applications. The company has over 1,000 corporate and government customers.
