Endace buys MSSP Applied Watch for $5 million

New Zealand-based network monitoring provider Endace has acquired Applied Watch Technologies, a managed security services provider, for US$5 million.

Endace had provided Applied Watch with US$500,000 in working capital, and will issue an initial cash consideration of Us$3.9 million upon the deal's completion.

US-based Applied Watch lost US$112,000 last year, despite revenues of US$1.5 million. As of Sept. 30, Applied Watch, which also provides centralised management tools for open-source products, had net liabilities of US$376,000, according to Endace.

Stephen Gleave, VP of marketing at Endace, told SCMagazineUS.com today that the acquisition will help the company take advantage of an increase in corporate use of open-source products.

“So what we hope to achieve is securing open source, and having a centralised managed place for that software to run,” he said.

Representatives from Applied Watch could not immediately be reached for comment.

Kelly Kavanagh, Gartner principal research analyst, told SCMagazineUS.com today that the acquisition signals that Endace is trying to gain a foothold in the United States.

“They have most of their business in these appliances to run Snort and do network monitoring, so certainly the Applied Watch acquisition gives them a footprint in the US, which is not insignificant,” he said.

“It seems like a reasonable move. The price didn't seem outrageous, and the important thing for doing managed services is to have that local footprint – in the US, in this case.”

See original article on SC Magazine US