IBM completes acquisition of Q1 Labs


26 Oct 2011

Technology giant IBM has wrapped up its acquisition of Q1 Labs, a provider of advanced analytics to detect and flag suspicious or abnormal events. Financial terms were not disclosed.

IBM had announced it had entered a definitive agreement to acquire the Waltham, Massachusetts-based company on 4 October.

Following today’s acquisition closing, Q1 Labs CEO Brendan Hannigan will assume the role of general manager of IBM’s newly formed Security Systems Division.

“The ability to leverage analytics is becoming a competitive differentiator,” said Hannigan. “We’re fusing together IBM’s vast security expertise and analytics to drive security intelligence to clients and fundamentally alter the security marketplace.”

Q1 Labs’ advanced analytics and correlation capabilities can help detect and flag actions that deviate from prescribed policies and typical behaviour with a view across an organisation’s network, applications, user activity, mobile endpoints and physical security devices, including both cloud-based and on-premise sources.

Q1 Labs will join the newly formed Security Systems division, which integrates IBM’s Tivoli, Rational and Information Management security software, appliances, lab offerings and services. 

The new division will target a US$94bn opportunity in security software and services, which has a nearly 12pc compound annual growth rate, according to IBM estimates. 

Q1 Labs will join the more than 10 strategic security acquisitions IBM has made in the last decade and the more than 25 analytics-related purchases.