Motorola signs up AirDefense
Wireless security company joins the fold.
By Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service | Published: 08:37, 29 July 2008
Motorola is to buy wireless LAN security vendor AirDefense, adding to its arsenal of enterprise network products.
AirDefense, which was founded in 2001, sells systems and software to help enterprises secure their LANs against wireless threats. Motorola expects the deal to close in the next few months, following regulatory and other approvals, and will integrate AirDefense into its Enterprise Mobility business.
Most of AirDefense's 91 employees, including president and CEO Mike Potts, will join Motorola, said Sujai Hajela, vice president and general manager of Motorola's enterprise wireless LAN business.
There is no overlap between the two companies' products, Hajela said. Motorola has been selling AirDefense products since 2005 under the Motorola brand, alongside its enterprise wireless LAN gear. Following the acquisition, it plans to further integrate AirDefense's security capabilities into its own products, such as wireless switches, he said.
Motorola also hopes to sell more wireless LANs to general enterprises through AirDefense's strength in that area, Hajela said. AirDefense has more than 800 enterprise customers worldwide, in areas such as financial services, retail, health care and government, AirDefense's Potts said. Among those are the US Federal Aviation Administration and the US Army. Motorola's core markets are vertical industries, namely retail, supply chain, transportation and logistics, manufacturing, health care and government.
AirDefense's products can secure wireless LANs from a wide variety of vendors, and that capability will remain after the acquisition, Hajela said.
Motorola bought into WLANs in 2006 by acquiring Symbol Technologies. Lately, Motorola has been pushing WLANs for general enterprises, including as an alternative to wired Ethernet, which the company claims can be significantly less expensive to maintain. About 10 years after the introduction of standard IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs, the technology is still more popular in homes, public hotspots and specialised enterprises than in general business offices.
The deal follows last month's Trapeze Networks by LAN equipment vendor Belden. The enterprise wireless LAN market, though dominated by Cisco Systems, still supports several dedicated vendors, though it is not growing at phenomenal rates. Revenue in the first quarter rose 14 percent from a year earlier, hurt partly by the economic slowdown in North America, while unit shipments of access points fell 5 percent, according to Dell'Oro Group. Orders of more expensive products accounted for the difference, the research company said.
Motorola had the second-largest market share in the first quarter, at 8 percent, followed closely by Aruba at 7 percent, according to Dell'Oro. Cisco held 63 percent of the market.
