Forwarded From: "Spencer, Will" <wspencer@DMWGroup.com>
ISS Acquires March Information Systems
ATLANTA (Oct. 6) BUSINESS WIRE -Oct. 6, 1998--
Acquisition Further Establishes ISS as Leading Provider of Adaptive
Network Security Solutions with Expansion of Security
Product Line and Expertise
Internet Security Systems (Nasdaq: ISSX), the leading provider of adaptive
network security software, today announced it is acquiring privately held
March Information Systems.
London-based March Information Systems is a developer of Windows NT and
Unix- based security assessment technologies. The combined offerings of
both companies will extend the value and capabilities of ISS'
market-leading, SAFEsuite(R) adaptive network security solutions for
protecting networks and systems across the entire enterprise.
March Information Systems' unique security assessment products complement
ISS' SAFEsuite award-winning software portfolio including best-of-breed
security vulnerability and intrusion detection systems and the industry's
first enterprise security decision-support technology. ISS' SAFEsuite,
combined with March Information Systems' technology, will provide
customers with a more advanced security control system for proactively
monitoring and detecting security vulnerabilities and threats within
dynamic enterprise network environments.
Under the terms of the agreement, ISS is acquiring all of the outstanding
stock of March Information Systems in exchange for $4.750 million in cash
and 120,000 shares of ISS Group common stock. The transaction will be
accounted for using the purchase method of accounting and the results of
March Information Systems will be included in future results of ISS from
October 6, 1998, the closing date of the transaction. In the most recent
fiscal year of March Information Systems ended March 31, 1998, revenues
totaled approximately $2 million. ISS Extends Security Offerings to
Include User Activity Security Assessment and Increased Platform Support
With this transaction, ISS extends its rich heritage of security
offerings, with robust capabilities in two new areas: end user activity
assessment and increased platform support. As unacceptable and acceptable
security risks become more defined through security policy development,
they must be managed across the entire spectrum of business activities
from base network services to applications, and from Web servers to the
individual desktops of end users. March Information Systems expands the
range of the ISS security control system to incorporate security policy
compliance across more platforms and varieties of user activities.
The combination of March Information Systems' adaptive policy enforcement
technology and ISS' SAFEsuite will provide customers with the ability to
detect security policy violations and compliance in specific user areas
such as the presence and configuration of modems and tape and floppy
drives. User specific policy management moves beyond the current ISS
expertise in technical security vulnerabilities and operating systems
configurations to user and applications usage and configurations. In
addition, ISS will expand its coverage to support a wider range of
platforms including additional versions of Unix and Novell NetWare(R)
operating systems.
"Today ISS is joining forces with a focused security software provider to
extend our leading, enterprise information protection capabilities,
distribution channels, development bandwidth, services and training
offerings," said Tom Noonan, president and chief executive officer of
Internet Security Systems (ISS). "This announcement further solidifies our
lead in the adaptive network security market, and reinforces our position
as the only vendor to offer organizations truly integrated, best-of-breed
information protection solutions. Today's announcement delivers on our
commitment to not only continue to leverage our core security expertise,
but to extend the adaptive network security process beyond system and
network security weaknesses into user driven security issues, providing
our customers with the most powerful defense for identifying and
responding to enterprise security risks."
"We are pleased to be joining ISS, the pioneer and premier provider of
adaptive network security software with its world-leading X-Force team of
security experts," said Terry Pudwell, president of March Information
Systems. "ISS' unmatched security solutions continue to evolve at a rapid
pace to cover all areas of risk on the global network from operating
systems to desktops and servers. We look forward to combining our
technology expertise to provide our joint customers with an even more
powerful enterprise security portfolio."
-o-
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Received on Wed Oct 7 08:31:00 1998