IBM announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire BigFix, Inc., a privately-held company based in Emeryville, Calif. The move aims to accelerate IBM's efforts to help organizations more intelligently secure the enterprise by managing and automating security and compliance updates on thousands of computers globally. Financial details were not disclosed.
BigFix software has built-in intelligence that can identify which devices are not in compliance with corporate IT policies and recommend security fixes and timely software updates to 500,000 machines.
"BigFix automates some of the most time-intensive IT tasks across the most complex global networks, helping save organizations significant amounts of time, labor, and expense," says Al Zollar, general manager for IBM Tivoli software. "BigFix's real-time visibility and control for globally distributed computing devices will complement IBM's existing smarter data center offerings and strengthen our ability to build security into the fabric of the enterprise."
BigFix software provides a single IT management platform that gives organizations visibility, control and automation across their computing endpoints - laptops, desktops and servers - to manage critical applications for systems lifecycle, vulnerability assessment, energy-efficient computing, and configuration and security compliance. The platform also helps distribute and manage a client's anti-virus, anti-malware, firewall and network access control software.
IBM's acquisition of BigFix will build upon an existing relationship between the two companies. Since 2009, IBM Global Technology Services and BigFix have been working together to incorporate BigFix solutions into IBM's services portfolio.
BigFix will be integrated into IBM Software Group, which has made approximately 60 acquisitions since 2003. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2010, subject to regulatory approval and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
For more information about IBM Tivoli, go here.
For more information about BigFix, go here.