Symantec To Acquire Sygate Technologies

Symantec Corp. on Tuesday said it has agreed to acquire privately held Sygate Technologies Inc., which provides technology that ensures devices comply with security policies before they are allowed to access a corporate network.

Financial details were not disclosed, but the acquisition is expected to close shortly after receiving customary regulatory approvals, Cupertino, Calif.-based, Symantec said.

Once the transaction is completed, companies using Symantec's anti-virus and client security products would be able to license Sygate's Network Access Control software to run on top of Symantec's products. Symantec plans to eventually integrate its products for distributing software patches and updates into Sygate's products for controlling network access by notebooks, handheld computers and other devices used by workers.

“It is critical to have an endpoint compliance solution that will allow companies to leverage their existing IT infrastructure to control the myriad devices connecting to the network,” Enrique Salem, senior vice president for security products and solutions at Symantec, said in a statement.

Sygate's web site includes a product-comparison study conducted by KeyLabs and released in January 2003. In the report, which was funded by Fremont, Calif.-based Sygate, KeyLabs said Sygate's Secure Enterprise Solution 3.0 product had a more comprehensive enterprise management feature set than Symantec Client Security 2.0.

In addition, the testing firm found that Sygate's product did "a more effective job facilitating policy enforcement in large organizations."