Barracuda's mid-October acquisition of Purewire (SaaS-based secure Web gateway provider) didn't get a lot of press attention. When it comes to acquisitions, Barracuda is known as a bottom fisher (as evidenced by their failed attempt to acquire Sourcefire) — often buying distressed properties that it can quickly rebrand and put back into the market. Which is why the Purewire acquisition seems puzzling. Purewire was positioned as an innovator in the "hosted" Web security field which many expect to replicate the strong growth that occurred with the hosted anti-spam companies, many of whom are experimenting with hosted Web filtering services. So you've got to wonder why the Purewire investors were willing to get out so early in the game at what we're assuming might not be the best of terms (even waiting a couple of weeks would have increased its value as evidenced in today's news of Cisco's acquisition of ScanSafe for $183M). On the Barracuda side, this acquisition is the company's first step into the hosted security services market. After building its brand on selling low cost security appliances, providing hosted Web filtering services is an interesting move — it probably won't be long till they add hosted e-mail anti-spam services to the mix. In that case, how will Barracuda, positioned as the price leader in the appliance space, brand itself in these hosted markets?
Recent Barracuda Acquisitions
