InfoWatch group of companies, the spin-off of Kaspersky Lab, announces today that it has acquired the German software company cynapspro GmbH. Under the deal, InfoWatch gets cynapspro's controlling interest. The agreement provides transfer of exclusive rights for all cynapspro GmbH products and designs, patents and trademarks to InfoWatch. InfoWatch plans to increase revenue from this direction in the next 2-3 years up to several dozen million euros per year.
Cynapspro works on the German-speaking markets of Western Europe (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and develops enterprise information security software. Cynapspro solutions provide control of endpoint-connected devices such as external media, communication devices, printers, optical drives etc.; application management, data encryption and filtering by file type, as well as data protection on mobile devices and removable media. All solutions work under the single management console; it allows managing security policies centrally.
«Until today InfoWatch mainly worked in the enterprise segment. Cooperation with cynapspro gives us an opportunity to offer a good solution for small and medium businesses worldwide,» – said Natalya Kaspersky, InfoWatch CEO. «This acquisition enables InfoWatch to increase its activity in Europe, since now we have a reliable office that will provide marketing and promotional services as well as technical support for all solutions of InfoWatch product line. InfoWatch and cynapspro product lines integration will create an additional opportunity for us. InfoWatch is good at large scale server solutions, whereas cynapspro is good when it comes to the endpoint protection in small & medium business environments. We plan to invest heavily in the expansion of our joint business, in particular, we plan the geographic expansion in European countries».
Cynapspro partner network includes about 50 distributors and resellers. More than 650 German and Austrian companies are among its customers. Cynapspro turnover for 2011 amounted to several million euros. According to the management estimates, the company has 10-15% of German-speaking endpoint protection market. More than 30 high-qualified information security specialists work for the company. Predicted profit for 2011 is at least 10% of the turnover. In comparison to 2010, revenue growth for 2011 is at least 50%.
It's supposed that cynapspro integration with InfoWatch will affect products development and promotion. In small and medium business segment, joint product of InfoWatch and cynapspro will be delivered under a new brand (currently in development). Enterprise products will be sold under the InfoWatch brand. Cynapspro technologies will become a part of this product range, adding a set of necessary functionality expected by customers.
«In the recent 5 years we have been able, with a relatively small team, not only to introduce the series of products now recognized as the best in the industry, but also occupy one of the leading positions in the German market, — says Sergey Shlotthauer, CEO, cynapspro, — and hundreds of satisfied customers with 100 to 100.000 licenses are the best evidence thereto. We’re entering an entirely new level of business. Before long we will be offering a comprehensive portfolio both in the field of Endpoint Security and gateway level DLP solutions. Besides, we will be able to go beyond the German-speaking sphere and make a serious claim at the global market».
