Virtualization giant VMware announced on Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire privately held AirWatch, a provider of enterprise mobile management and security solutions, for $1.175 billion in cash and roughly $365 million of installment payments and assumed unvested equity.
AirWatch’s offers technology that helps customers securely manage mobile devices, applications and content in the enterprise.
“With this acquisition VMware will add a foundational element to our end-user computing portfolio that will enable our customers to turbo-charge their mobile workforce without compromising security,” said Pat Gelsinger, chief executive officer, VMware.
AirWatch claimes more than 10,000 customers globally and more than 1,600 employees across nine global offices. Customers include enterprises and mid-size organizations with a strong presence in all vertical industries, including financial services, healthcare, Federal and retail, where nine of the top 10 retailers in the U.S. rely on AirWatch.
Specific AirWatch customers include Delta, Lowe’s, United Airlines, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Skanska, PepsiCo, Henry Ford Health System, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Best Buy and Abbott Laboratories.
In June 2013, AirWatch acquired the Mobility Services Platform (MSP) business from Motorola Solutions, a move that let AirWatch take advantage of MSP’s technology which helps customers provision, stage and manage their enterprise mobile systems.
“VMware’s vision for end-user computing has been to create a secure virtual workspace that allows end-users to work at the speed of life – so that as they move from desktop, to laptop, to tablet, to phone, to car – their apps, their content, their devices come to life seamlessly – anywhere, anyplace, anytime,” Sanjay Poonen, EVP and GM of VMware’s End-User Computing group, wrote in a blog post.
“The acquisition of AirWatch extends VMware’s proposition from data-center to device, and strongly positions us for the Mobile-Cloud era,” Poonedn said.
The AirWatch team will continue to report to founder and chief executive officer John Marshall as part of VMware’s End-User Computing group, led by Sanjay Poonen, EVP and GM. Alan Dabbiere, AirWatch’s co-founder and chairman, will be overseeing a new AirWatch operating board which will report to Pat Gelsinger, VMware chief executive officer.
AirWatch’s Atlanta location is expected to expand and be the center of VMware’s mobile operations.
The acquisition has been approved by the boards of directors of both VMware and AirWatch and the acquisition is expected to close during late Q1 2014, subject to customary closing conditions.
