AU consolidation: 90East joins SecureNet in US-backed acquisition - News - Security

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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AU consolidation: 90East joins SecureNet in US-backed acquisition

By Patrick Gray, 0
November 13, 2003
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/soa/AU-consolidation-90East-joins-SecureNet-in-US-backed-acquisition/0,130061744,120280943,00.htm

An IT security firm owned by a U.S. bank, beTRUSTed, has acquired 90East, an Australian security provider.

The U.S. giant acquired local publicly listed security provider SecureNET in July for AU$110 million. The latest deal, the terms of which are confidential, will give the new group -- re-branded as beTRUSTed Australia -- a significant boost in both the number of customers on its books and the infrastructure at its disposal. Jobs will be cut in the next few months -- some administrative roles will become redundant as 90East's 60 staff are absorbed by the larger company. beTRUSTed Staff numbers will be close to 300 in Australia alone when the acquisition is finalised.

beTRUSTed Asia Pacific chief executive Paul O'Rourke said the purchase will provide the company with redundancy and scalability -- at this stage there are no plans to merge the two companies' technical operations. Both beTRUSTed Australia and 90East operate gateways certified for use by Commonwealth government departments.

"The rationale behind the acquisition was about having the right infrastructure in Australia... we needed additional capacity," he told ZDNet Australia . "For reasons of redundancy the operations will sit separately."

Other companies to operate government certified gateway services are CSC, IBM, and Macquarie Corporate.

A sweetener to the deal was 90East's growth in the private sector, O'Rourke said. "They've grown their business quite significantly in the corporate market, which is something that was very attractive to us."

While he remained tight-lipped on the particulars, O'Rourke said the company is working to establish large scale partnerships with outsourcing giants EDS and CSC -- the chief executive confirmed beTRUSTed is negotiating "primarily with EDS and CSC". beTRUSTed has a close relationship with the outsourcers in the U.S. -- an arrangement O'Rourke appears keen to capitalise on. "We still need to commercialise local arrangements, but it certainly helps," he said. "We actually see the channel model as one of the key aspects for our growth. [Another] key is working with Telstra."

Having partnered with Telstra for two years through SecureNet, O'Rourke says the telco is making all the right moves in the security space. "We see Telstra as becoming much bigger in the market in the future," he said.

beTRUSTed's feeding frenzy is not over. O'Rourke said there at least one more key acquisition on the cards within the next six months. "We're definitely on an acquisitive trail at the moment -- we will pick up other businesses," he said.

The company will not look at purchasing another gateway company -- it's currently negotiating the acquisition of a products and services business. "It's something under negotiation at this stage. It's more on the product and professional services side," O'Rourke said.

However the chief executive would not be drawn on the details, saying only that "it's in the multi-million [dollar range]".

beTRUSTed is owned by Bank One, which, according to O'Rourke, is the sixth largest financial institution in the U.S., and the 20th largest in the world.