Sophos buys Canadian antispam firm

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 24 Sep 2003 at 16:21

UK antivirus company Sophos has bought Vancouver-based ActiveState for £23mn in cash.

ActiveState builds enterprise-level anti-spam software and tools for open-source programmers. Its PureMessage anti-spam product will be combined with Sophos antivirus as Sophos PureMessage, which supportsAIX, HP-UX, FreeBSD, Linux and Solaris.

David Ferris, president, Ferris Research, said: 'Enterprises increasingly look to a single vendor for protection against spam and viruses at the gateway, so the acquisition of ActiveState by Sophos makes a lot of sense.'

The cash deal will see all of ActiveState's staff retained and the president on the Sophos board. Sophos will also grab ActiveState's two million customers, including the likes of HP, Intel and Microsoft.

Peter Lammer, joint CEO of Sophos, said: 'ActiveState's proven technology, its impressive customer base, its expertise in the open source world, and in particular the quality of its staff are very valuable additions to Sophos.'

Sophos will use ActiveState's Vancouver base to improve market support for the West coast and as an additional R&D centre.

ActiveState's open-source products will continue to be sold under the existing brand.