Microsoft continues to look to the cloud -- not just with Windows 10, but with many of its enterprise services -- and security remains of the utmost importance. Now the company has announced the acquisition of cloud security firm Adallom in a move that will give customers additional ways to protect their data in the cloud.
The security company started life two and half years ago, and Microsoft sees value in adding it to its existing portfolio of acquisitions. Adallom co-founder Assaf Rappaport describes joining the Microsoft family as "another validation of [the company]", while Microsoft says it demonstrates its "commitment to delivering innovative identity and security capabilities".
Earlier in the year there had been rumors that the acquisition had already taken place at a cost of $320 million to Microsoft. Now the deal has actually gone ahead, no details have been released of how much money has changed hands or what the acquisition will mean for staff and company structuring in the long run. But Microsoft believes that in taking Adallom under its wing, it will be able to provide better on-premises security as well as protecting access to cloud-based data and applications.
In a post on the Microsoft blog, Corporate VP of Cloud and Enterprise Marketing Takeshi Numoto says:
Adallom expands on Microsoft’s existing identity assets, and delivers a cloud access security broker, to give customers visibility and control over application access as well as their critical company data stored across cloud services. Adallom works with popular cloud applications including Salesforce, Box, Dropbox, ServiceNow, Ariba, and of course Office 365. As a cloud-delivered, security-as-a-service solution, Adallom will complement existing offerings that Microsoft makes available today as part of Office 365 and the Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS), including our recent Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics release.
For the time being, Adallom will continue to work with its existing customers and develop new technologies whilst integrating into Microsoft.
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