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Apple Acquisition of AuthenTec Provides Significant Opportunity
Apple’s acquisition of AuthenTec for $8 per share or about $356 million brings a value purchase of fingerprint and security technology. On the surface, the acquisition provides Apple with biometric fingerprint technology to imbed in their mobile devices. While that is significant news, there is more, much more to the story…read on…
First off, $356 million is a bargain for the potential the acquisition could bring. Between the core biometric fingerprint technology and cache of intellectual property (IP), the potential is significant enough. However, there is significantly more potential here.
Value of Mobile Biometric Scanners
Integrated fingerprint scanners in mobile devices are not new. HP was the first to introduce biometric security to a PDA in 2002 with their iPAQ 5450. IBM introduced an integrated fingerprint scanner to a laptop in 2004 with their ThinkPad T42 model. Adding biometric security addresses some of the concerns that come with management of corporate data and near field communications (NFC) for payment processing.
Impact of RIM Blackberry
There most definitely is a relationship between the current state of RIM (makers of Blackberry) and Apple. I wrote a post ‘Learning From The Blackberry Monkey Wrench’ outlining some of my thoughts. There are three core components to the Blackberry service: 1) The hardware devices, 2) The software running on the devices and servers and 3) the RIM operations that manage all Blackberry traffic. This third one is most often missed and one of significant concern. If RIM collapses and the three components go to different companies, what happens to the data center operations that secure and manage the Blackberry system? I’m certain it will create pause for many corporate entities that currently rely on Blackberry solutions.
Apple has the software and hardware solution. However, they do not rise to the level of security Blackberry affords. The acquisition of AuthenTec technology could provide just the boost they need.
Creation of Security Ecosystem
It is unclear as to the entire portfolio of IP AuthenTec brings. One thing is for certain, the potential for upstream and downstream security integration is strong. And with that integration, Apple has the potential to bring a solution to market similar to Blackberry that addresses the data security concerns coming from BYOD and CoIT.
Bottom Line: Considering the acquisition potential beyond the obvious, $356m seems like a steal. Of course, Apple still needs to execute to prove the true value.
Further Reading:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1138830/000119312512318086/d384083d8k.htm
http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/AAPL.O/key-developments/article/2580569
Sneak Peek of the Under The Radar Conference
The Under The Radar (UTR) Conference (
http://www.undertheradarblog.com/
) is tomorrow, April 26, 2012. UTR is the intersection of hot up-and-coming startups, investors and judging. If the reception tonight was any indication, the conference and presentations should be very interesting. Here’s a sneak peak of my take of the hot areas and companies to watch:
Application Development Solutions
A few companies are presenting their solutions in the mobile and security space. In the era of cloud computing, these are two hot buttons that enterprises and service providers alike need to be keenly aware of. The move of the information worker from a stationary device to a mobile device is in process. CoIT and BYOD are both serious factors to the movement. Likewise, using traditional security paradigms in the new model run into serious complications. Tools are needed to help organizations make this move while managing and securing environments.
Companies: BitzerMobile, Cabana, Duo Security, Fabric Engine, Framehawk, StackMob
Platforms and Infrastructure
Building applications on top of infrastructure is nothing new. In the cloud era, the architecture…and options open up quite a bit. The cloud market is starting to mature and value is moving from core infrastructure to platforms and on to applications. Leveraging hosted platforms does require a different paradigm to succeed. In addition, when considering apps at scale, automation and orchestration become even more important. This is a very broad area with quite a bit of specialization. Moving forward, integration in the space will be the key to success…along with some consolidation.
Companies: Appfog, AppHarbor, CloudBees, CloudScaling, Drawn to Scale, ionGrid, Iron.io, MemSQL, MongoLab, Nodejitsu, NuoDB, Piston Cloud, Puppet Labs, Sauce Labs, ScaleArc, Zadara Storage
Monitoring and Analytics
One of the most interesting areas is how data is used and analyzed. And then taking action based on the information gleaned from the data. Players in this space range from aggregating data to understanding and analyzing it. Value increases as the data is moved into analytics and ultimately business actions taken based on the intelligence. While there is quite a bit of specialization in this area at different levels (application monitoring/ performance management to analytics and intelligence), added value will come when these can be tied together to drive business decisions.
Companies: Chart.io, Cloudability, Cloudyn, Datadog, DataSift, Infochimps, Metamarkets, Nodeable, Sumo Logic, Tracelytics
Interesting Areas to Watch
In today’s marketplace, there are the future-state solutions and concepts. And then there are the real-world solutions that solve today’s problems. Both states need to be understood and the ball needs to be moved forward…and fast! The increased amplitude of mobile devices along with cloud computing bring applications at scale into the forefront. Orchestration and automation becoming hallmarks to success to up-level the conversation and value IT brings to organizations. Ultimately, the play will be with data and analytics. But today, there are more fundamental issues on the table.
Of course, that’s just a cursory review of the upcoming presentations from the UTR conference. Look for more details in the UTR Twitter stream (#UTRconf) and posts after the conference.
Cloud Computing Turns InfoSec Upside Down
I had the opportunity to write a post for SecureWorld Post’s site. You can view it at:
http://secureworldpost.secureworldexpo.com/crawford-cloud-computing-turns-infosec-upside-down/
