Trend Micro Plants a Flag in Virtualization Security Ground with Third Brigade Acquisition

| Apr 29, 2009 | Enterprise Security | Competitive Intelligence Report

| Analyst: Paula Musich

Current Perspective: Positive
Vendor Importance: High
Market Impact: Moderate/High

Event Summary

April 29, 2009 -- Trend Micro announced its plans to acquire Third Brigade, a host IPS provider that has focused on securing virtual server environments as well as physical servers. The acquisition will help crystallize Trend’s dynamic data center security strategy and deliver a greater PCI compliance solution to Trend customers.

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Positive on Trend Micro’s acquisition of Third Brigade, a host intrusion prevention system provider focused on protecting both physical and virtual servers, because it immediately positions Trend Micro as a leader in securing applications running on virtual machines in enterprise data centers as well as cloud-based servers. At the same time, it also extends Trend’s position as a server protection provider and gives Trend the foundation for a better PCI compliance story.

• Vendor Importance: High to Trend Micro, because it fills a gap in Trend’s ability to protect servers and applications running on virtual servers, which is gaining increasing attention as cost-saving initiatives mandate broader deployment of virtual servers. Third Brigade jumped out to an early lead at RSA in launching the first security software to exploit VMware’s VMsafe APIs, giving Trend a technological lead over competitors. The acquisition is very important to the privately held Third Brigade, which gains a global footprint and the sheen of stability that the much larger Trend brings with it. As a part of Trend, Third Brigade’s Deep Security software is now a safe bet for large enterprises to make.

• Market Impact: Moderate to high on the host intrusion prevention market, because while the host IPS market has largely taken a back seat to the network IDS/IPS market, the growth in virtual server deployments and growing interest in cloud computing will drive the need for greater protection on both physical and virtual servers -- especially as applications move dynamically from one host and data center to another. At the same time, Trend can now build on its ten-year history of server security by adding leading edge virtual server security. It extends to that technology a global presence and the weight of a stable, nearly $1 billion company.

Recommended Competitor Actions

• VMware VMsafe partners that were waiting for the shipment of vSphere 4 may want to move up their announcement dates, or at the very least share with customers under NDA their implementation of VMsafe and outline the benefits of their approach.

• Trend Micro rivals that have not articulated their approach to securing applications on virtual machines and on cloud computing servers should move to quickly inform customers and prospects about the benefits of their approach. Although many enterprises are hesitant to adopt cloud computing because of security concerns, a strong, confident, and well thought-out approach can serve to ease those fears and create thought leaders for the new computing model.

• Host IPS rivals McAfee and IBM ISS should move quickly to detail how their HIPS offerings will secure virtual environments – VMware as well as XenServer and HyperV. IBM ISS should work to lower the management overhead for its Proventia Server offering, while McAfee should broaden its support for non-Windows server environments.

• Pure-play virtual server security vendors such as Catbird, Apani, Reflex Systems, and Altor Networks should look to partner with larger vendors or be acquired. With VMsafe due out by July, those small vendors will begin to compete with much larger and more stable rivals. Those vendors should also look to create software implementations of their virtual appliance-based technology in order to protect both physical and virtual servers and enable security for applications that exploit VMotion.

Recommended Competitor Actions

• Users who were hesitant to buy from the small Third Brigade can now proceed with their plans, confident of the backing of a much larger and more stable supplier.

• With the arrival of vSphere 4 this summer, a wave of support for VMsafe from larger vendors will hit the VMware world. Enterprises looking to deploy VMware more broadly should take the time to evaluate the different approaches to securing virtual machines and cloud servers.

• Users should weigh the new VMsafe implementations, which will be largely untested and very immature, against the more mature implementations from pure-play vendors.

• Enterprises considering alternate virtual server vendors, such as Citrix with its XenServer and Microsoft with HyperV, should explore the security options available with those offerings. It is unwise to assume they are inherently more secure by virtue of their partitioning.

CLIENTS ONLY

Current Perspective

Competitive Positives and Concerns

Recommended Vendor Actions

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