Trend Micro acquires TippingPoint from HP

Trend Micro is acquiring TippingPoint from HP. The deal expands Trend Micro’s portfolio and gives it a more comprehensive security solution, and gives HP $300 million.

I wrote this blog post about what’s in it for each of them and what it means for TippingPoint moving forward:

TippingPoint is on the move again. HP announced today that it is selling Tipping Point to Trend Micro—enabling HP to center its efforts within the enterprise and expanding the network and endpoint security capabilities of Trend Micro.

What’s in it for Trend Micro?

TippingPoint adds intrusion prevention and mitigations capabilities to the Trend Micro arsenal—giving it a broader, more comprehensive security solution to protect customers. ATrend Micro press release explains, “By combining intrusion prevention and breach detection, Trend Micro is creating a multi-faceted approach to contain sophisticated attacks. Should a compromise occur, the solution can swiftly detect and mitigate exploits within the network that could inflict further damage.”

“This acquisition complements Trend Micro’s current threat defense expertise, extending its strength in endpoint, cloud, data center and breach detection to the network,” said Mike Spanbauer, vice president of research for NSS Labs in the Trend Micro press release. “By combining two strong brands, this move accelerates Trend Micro’s enterprise position into a non-competing segment, and provides a single, complete threat defense solution for enterprises seeking to make a critical security investment.”

So, Trend Micro gets a broader enterprise security solution and a deeper bench when it comes to security expertise and intellectual property. TippingPoint provides Trend Micro with a more comprehensive approach that will up its game and put it on more even ground with larger rivals like Symantec and Intel Security (McAfee).

What’s in it for HP?

From the HP perspective the news seems to have a split personality. HP presents the news of divesting TippingPoint to Trend Micro as an effort to focus on its strengths as part of the transition to Hewlett Packard Enterprise. HP states that it is selling TippingPoint so it can partner on network security rather than owning it and so it can invest in other areas of its security portfolio. But it still has an impressive security portfolio that includes HP Fortify, HP Data Security, Aruba Networks, HP ArcSight, and HP Secure Access and Continuity Solutions.

Read the complete post on CSOOnline: HP sells TippingPoint to Trend Micro.