The Great Security Roll-up Starts
This article found on Yahoo mentions Hewlett-Packard’s purchase of SPI Dynamics, but there’s been a lot more.
The article states, “Last year IBM spent $1.3 billion to pick up Internet Security Systems Inc., while data-storage giant EMC Corp. shelled out $2.1 billion for RSA Security Inc. Not just computing companies are interested: last year telecommunications carrier BT Group PLC bought network monitor Counterpane Internet Security Inc.”
What are the public policy implications of this? BT has many UK government clients, as does IBM. Are there conflicts of interest in this? Will certain security systems work better with their parent companies’ technical solutions than with their competitors? Has the public sector had a chance to secure covenants regarding this? Do existing contracts with UK government have the appropriate clauses to protect them (and us) from normal commercial competitive practices?
June 21st, 2007 at 4:10 pm
The other way of looking at this is that the voice of Bruce Schneier, which should be heard by everyone, has a larger and more secure platform in BT Counterpane. Also that we’ll have the peaseure of seeing a lot more of him in the UK.