Cybersecurity giant Fortinet has completed its acquisition of Bradford Networks, a provider of network access control solutions, in a deal supposedly worth $17 million.
“As large organizations continue to see high growth in network traffic and the number of devices and users accessing their networks, the risk of breach increases exponentially. According to a recent Forrester study, 82 percent of companies surveyed are unable to even identify all devices accessing their networks,” said Ken Xie, founder, chairman of the board and CEO of Fortinet, “The integration of Bradford Networks’ technology with Fortinet’s security fabric enables large enterprises with the continuous visibility, micro-segmentation and access control technology they need to contain threats and block untrusted devices from accessing the network.”
According to a statement released by Fortinet on Monday, the acquisition will enhance the Fortinet Security Fabric by converging access control and IoT security solutions to provide large enterprises with broader visibility and security for their complex networks, including:
- Complete, continuous, agentless visibility of endpoints, users, trusted and untrusted devices and applications accessing the network including IoT and headless devices.
- Enhanced IoT security through device micro segmentation, dynamic classification of headless devices by type, profile, as well as automatic policy assignment to enable granular isolation of unsecure devices, all using a simple web user interface.
- Accurate event triage and threat containment in seconds through automated workflow integrations that prevent lateral movement.
- Easy, cost-effective deployment due to highly scalable architecture that eliminates deployment at every location of a multi-site installation.
“Our goal is to build a Security Fabric from IoT all the way into the cloud,” said John Maddison, SVP of products and solutions at Fortinet. “We have good visibility at the access point, switching and gateways, but we also have a lot of devices where we didn’t have a mechanism to identify them. Bradford Networks really allows us to focus in on the NAC marketplace and also IoT security. It brings those two markets together, and it gives us that extra visibility on the end points without having to put devices on every single endpoint.”
Previous known investment in Bradford Networks, which was founded in 1999, is estimated at $16 million, with Windspeed Ventures and Updata Partners as leading investors over the last decade. The financial terms of the acquisition were not widely publicised, but according to SecurityWeek, a spokesperson for Fortinet said that the company had paid approximately $17 million in initial consideration, net of cash acquired and subject to certain adjustments.
It may also pay a further $2 million as an earn-out, subject to performance conditions. The spokesperson also said that Bradford Networks “will become part of the Fortinet brand and will enrich Fortinet’s IoT offering. The majority of Bradford Networks employees will transfer to Fortinet and be integrated across multiple functions based on areas of responsibilities.”
“We are excited to join with Fortinet, the leader in network security, to deliver exceptional visibility and security at scale to large enterprise organizations,” said Bradford Networks CEO Rob Scott. “Bradford Networks’ technology is already integrated with Fortinet’s Security Fabric including FortiGate, FortiSIEM, FortiSwitch and FortiAP products to minimize the risk and impact of cyber threats in even the toughest security environments such as critical infrastructure – power, oil and gas and manufacturing.”
