Microsoft Acquires Sybari Software

Announcement details

· Microsoft announced that is has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Sybari, a privately-held company based in East Northport, NY. Sybari security products help more than 10,000 businesses worldwide protect their messaging and collaboration servers from malicious software. Terms were not announced.
· The acquisition is part of Microsoft’s comprehensive approach to helping its customers become more secure. Enterprise customers face a complex set of attacks through their Internet-facing servers, notably their e-mail and collaboration infrastructure. In a recent ICSA Labs survey, email attachment was cited as the means of infection in 88 percent of virus incidents – even though 94 percent of those companies said they had AV protection on their email surveys. As such, there is a need for better email server-level protection.
· This acquisition reflects Microsoft’s deep commitment to security. Following deal close, support will continue to be provided for the entire current Sybari product line across all technology platforms.
· The acquisition also shows Microsoft’s continued support for the partner ecosystem. Because the Sybari antivirus solution enables the use of multiple scan engines, Microsoft will work closely with a myriad of partners to help business customers guard against viruses, worms and spam.

The press release can be found here

Frequently asked questions

What exactly is Microsoft acquiring?
Microsoft plans to acquire Sybari’s intellectual property, its employees, its facilities, its customer base, and the existing agreements that Sybari has with leading technology vendors. We will work to ensure that the agreements Sybari has with its technology partners remain intact. This will give customers more choice, but more importantly it gives them protection from the latest threats.

How big is Sybari, and how many people does it employ?
Sybari security products help more than 10,000 businesses worldwide. The company has between 275 and 300 employees. Specific details on the company’s financial and operations can be found as part of Sybari’s S1 filing.

What are your business integration plans?
Following deal close, support will continue to be provided for the entire current Sybari product line across all technology platforms. Microsoft plans to continue to license most of Sybari’s product line as well.

Why did you select Sybari for acquisition?
Sybari Antigen antivirus products help deliver reliable server-level protection and improved virus detection rates through a unique multiple scan engine approach. This gives customers choice and the most up-to-date protection possible. In addition, because Sybari products already tightly integrate with Microsoft® communication and collaboration solutions, they were an ideal candidate for this type of acquisition.

How is this acquisition related to your earlier acquisition of GeCAD?
The GeCAD acquisition enabled Microsoft to deliver cleaner tools to help customers recover after the Blaster, MyDoom, Sasser, and Download.Ject infections as well as providing the Microsoft malicious software removal tool to more than 133 million PCs and helped Microsoft deeply understand the virus problem. It also gave the company an antivirus engine which can be developed and licensed as part of Microsoft’s strategy to address the security needs of its business customers. Sybari complements that capability by adding the technology to integrate AV into collaboration and communications infrastructure. This acquisition will enable Microsoft to provide the GeCAD engine as one of the engines that customers can choose to license with the Sybari server products.

Company Profiles

Sybari: