Juniper Networks said today that it has made an agreement to buy SMobile, a US-based mobile security company, for $70 million in cash.
SMobile designs mobile security software for devices running on Android, Apple iOS, Symbian, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile operating systems. its enterprise and consumer products protect devices from from viruses, spyware, identity theft and other threats, while providing parental and enterprise controls.
Juniper will integrate this portfolio into Junos Pulse, its network security client that it launched at Mobile World Congress in February.
A blog post from the company said that SMobile would “extend our market share leadership in the SSLVPN segment into further thought leadership with a breadth of new capabilities and device coverage that, we believe, is unmatched in the industry.”
According to industry analyst firm Infonetics Research, the mobile client security market is projected to grow to more than $1 billion by 2014.
“Security breaches in today’s mobile environment are growing threats that impact everyone,” said Mark Bauhaus, executive vice president and general manager, Services Layer Technologies at Juniper Networks. “Juniper already secures the majority of smart phone traffic in the United States, is a global leader in high-end firewalls and the SSL VPN2 market, and enables more than 25 million end users to remotely and securely connect their PCs and smart phones to corporate networks. Integrating SMobile’s portfolio into Junos Pulse will provide users with the most comprehensive mobile security solution available on the market.”
“The SMobile mission has always been to secure, manage and control all mobile devices, ensuring the Internet in your hand is safe and reliable — for enterprises, consumers and service providers,” said Neil Book, president and CEO of SMobile. “We are excited and energized about the opportunity to leverage Juniper’s world-class organization and global sales channel to continue to provide the most feature-rich and robust mobile security solutions in the market.”