Dell to acquire SonicWALL

Another acquisition to report on today — this time it’s Dell’s announcement that it is buying SonicWALL.

“Dell today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire SonicWALL, Inc., a leader in advanced network security and data protection,” Dell said in its announcement. “SonicWALL’s industry-leading Next-Generation Firewalls and Unified Threat Management (UTM) Firewalls complement Dell’s security solutions portfolio, enabling it to offer customers a broader range of enterprise offerings.”

SonicWALL specializes in such security technology as firewalls, secure remote access, email security, backup and recovery, and policy, management and reporting. It currently has more than 300,000 customers.

Dell said it “looks forward to welcoming SonicWALL’s approximately 950 employees to the Dell team,” and plans continued investments to grow its business.

The transaction was approved by the board of directors of each company. Additional terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction remains subject to customary conditions and is expected to close in the second quarter of Dell’s FY13.

“We are building a strategic software portfolio to address the needs of our customers with key assets in the fast-growing and highly profitable IT security solutions business. Our customers see security as a key IT concern for the foreseeable future,” John Swainson, president, Dell Software Group, said in the announcement.. “SonicWALL gives Dell access to unique intellectual property resources and technology that position us well in fast growing parts of the software security business.”