HP Sells TippingPoint Line to Trend Micro for $300 Million

HP Sells TippingPoint Network Security Business to Trend Micro for $300 Million

HP has agreed to sell its HP TippingPoint network security line of products to Trend Micro for roughly $300 million, the two companies announced on Wednesday.

Under the terms of the definitive agreement, Trend Micro will acquire security technology, intellectual property, personnel, and enterprise customers connected to TippingPoint products.

While TippingPoint products have been challenged by fierce competition in the network security space, Trend Micro said it would combine the capabilities of TippingPoint technology with its network defense business unit.

With the move shed TippingPoint, HP will focus on enterprise security offerings that help customers protect users, applications and data, primarily through its ArcSight, Fortify, HP Data Security and Secure Access and Continuity Solutions, in addition to network access control solutions gained from acquisition of Aruba Networks earlier this year.

The agreement also includes TippingPoint’s Digital Vaccine LABS (DVLABS), which provides real-time threat intelligence with security filters to analyze vulnerabilities and exploits, and the Zero Day Initiative, which (responsibly) discloses zero-day vulnerabilities from researchers.

The companies also said they would form a strategic partnership with TippingPoint around re-sale, managed services and OEM activities, as well as security intelligence, app security and data security.

“This acquisition complements Trend Micro’s current threat defense expertise, extending its strength in endpoint, cloud, data center and breach detection to the network,” said Mike Spanbauer, vice president of research, NSS Labs.

HP got its hands on the TippingPoint product line through its $2.7 billion acquisition of 3Com Corporation back in 2010. 3Com originally paid $430 million in stock to acquire TippingPoint Technologies in 2004.

“TippingPoint has been an important component of our security offering but we have decided to partner in network security as opposed to own so we can invest in other areas of our security portfolio,” HP’s Sue Barsamian and Art Wong wrote in a blog post.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of fiscal 2016.