Juniper Networks this week announced it is acquiring privately held SMobile Systems, a developer of security software for smartphones and tablets, for $70 million in cash.
SMobile’s products are designed to protect devices running on Android, Apple iOS, Symbian, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile operating systems from viruses, spyware, identity theft and other threats. The software also provides parental and enterprise controls.
Juniper will add the SMobile software to its Junos Pulse software platform for smartphones, tablets, netbooks and notebooks. Junos Pulse is intended to bring integrated connectivity, security and application acceleration to those devices, and the addition of SMobile will facilitate a secure mobile Internet experience, Juniper says.
Citing data from Infonetics Research, Juniper says the mobile client security market will be more than $1 billion by 2014.Juniper expects to close the acquisition within days. Thirty SMobile employees will transition to Juniper. SMobile CEO Neil Book and CTO Daniel Hoffman will report into Juniper’s Access and Acceleration business unit, headed by Vice President and General Manager Sanjay Beri.
