Blue Coat To Acquire Crossbeam Systems

Blue Coat Systems, Inc, a web security and optimisation service provider, has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Crossbeam Systems, Inc, a proven leader in delivering scalable network security. The acquisition brings together two companies that deliver complementary technologies to scale and secure the world’s largest and most complex networks. By acquiring Crossbeam, Blue Coat is laying the foundation for a broader strategy to transform the way businesses secure and optimise their networks.

“Our service provider and enterprise customers are excited we are bringing together two complementary technologies,” said Greg Clark, Chief Executive Officer at Blue Coat Systems. “With Crossbeam, Blue Coat gains a best-in-class support infrastructure and a high performing platform that scales to meet the needs of even the most complex enterprise IT environments.”

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New customer initiatives and an increasing number of devices accessing rich media content are driving the need for more capacity and performance in the network. Enabling these initiatives, however, often requires investments in additional networking and security solutions. For enterprises, being able to deploy these new solutions into their existing security environment is crucial.

“As enterprises seek to improve corporate agility with mobile and cloud-based solutions, the dual demands for greater capacity and improved threat response force enterprises into a cycle of constantly expanding networking and security infrastructures,” said Christian Christiansen, IDC’s program Vice President of Security Products & Services. “Blue Coat and Crossbeam have a history of embracing emerging security ecosystems, and this acquisition potentially enables customers to further tap into even more synergistic security and networking solutions.”

The Crossbeam X-Series portfolio provides a highly scalable platform that allows businesses to consolidate their security and networking infrastructures. Combined with Blue Coat’s Unified Security solution, the X-Series is an ideal control point in the network for managing applications that secure both inbound and outbound traffic from all users in any location.

“Blue Coat and Crossbeam are natural partners. The combination of Blue Coat’s web security solutions and Crossbeam’s scalable X-Series platform is an exciting proposition for us,” said Matthew Gyde, Global General Manager of Security at Dimension Data. “We’re confident that this union will appeal to our clients that are looking to innovate securely and cost effectively.”

Together, Blue Coat and Crossbeam will continue to embrace an open ecosystem and support best-of-breed ISV applications that allow customers to cost effectively deploy the security solutions that best fit their needs.

“Crossbeam has been a great partner for us, and we are committed to continuing and strengthening that relationship with Blue Coat going forward,” said Amnon Bar-Lev, President at Checkpoint.

The acquisition is expected to close on December 31, 2012.

Blue Coat and Crossbeam are portfolio companies of Thoma Bravo, LLC, a private equity firm with more than 30 years of providing equity and strategic support to experienced management teams and growing companies.