Sophos buys into unified threat management with Astaro purchase

UK-based security firm Sophos is to splash out on network security vendor Astaro in a bid to expand its capabilities in the unified threat management (UTM) space, which could be worth over £2bn this year.

Privately held Astaro, headquartered in the US and Germany, is the fourth largest dedicated UTM provider, and grew 30 per cent in 201 to over 56,000 installations in 60 countries.

Astaro's roster of hardware, software and gateway appliances will fit nicely alongside Sophos' endpoint, mobile, and email and web threat and data protection capabilities, according to Sophos chief executive Steve Munford.

IDC's latest figures placed worldwide revenue for the UTM market at approximately $2bn in 2010, with a compound annual growth rate of 13 per cent from 2010 to 2014.

The addition of Astaro will enable Sophos to provide more complete protection to its customers, thanks in part to information sharing and combining policy between endpoint and network.

"Demand for network security solutions with more comprehensive and high-quality protection is accelerating fast, and yet companies are struggling with the complexity of multiple security solutions to serve these needs," said Jan Hichert, chief executive of Astaro.

"Together, we will deliver the ability to apply consistent security and web and application controls regardless of where the user is or where the network boundary may lie."

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.