Irish IoT company snapped up by Akamai in all-cash deal

27 Oct 2020

Akamai headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Image: Billykamenides, on behalf of Akamai Technologies (CC BY-SA 4.0)

US company Akamai Technologies has acquired Asavie, the Dublin-headquartered internet of things business.

Akamai Technologies announced today (27 October) that it has acquired Irish company Asavie in an all-cash transaction. The deal will bring Asavie’s mobile, internet of things (IoT) and security solutions under Akamai’s security and personalisation services product line.

“We believe the addition of Asavie will help Akamai’s carrier partners address enterprise and mid-market customer demand for IoT and mobile device security and management services,” said Dr Tom Leighton, CEO and co-founder of Akamai Technologies.

“What’s notable about the Asavie solution is that, as more IoT devices connect over cellular and 5G, it has been shown to be very easy to scale and protect them,” Leighton added.

‘Asavie will help Akamai’s carrier partners address enterprise and mid-market customer demand for IoT and mobile device security and management services’
– DR TOM LEIGHTON

Massachusetts-headquartered Akamai, which is due to announce its Q3 2020 earnings today, reported annual revenue of $2.8bn in 2019 and employs more than 7,500 people. Its content delivery network comprises about 300,000 servers worldwide and the company also offers cybersecurity and cloud services.

Asavie’s platform – which is already sold by top global mobile network operators – manages the security, performance and access policies for mobile and internet-connected devices. This solution will now be sold to Akamai’s carrier partners, who can then embed it in the technology bundles sold to their subscribers.

With whole industries adapting to remote environments under Covid-19 restrictions, Dublin-based Asavie has seen growing opportunities for a scalable cloud-managed solution.

“We expect Covid-19 to have a lasting impact on how employees work and how businesses operate,” said Asavie CEO Ralph Shaw.

“Network security needs will be required to evolve in a 5G era where the office needs to go wherever employees happen to work. The Asavie suite of software-defined solutions is designed to enable enterprises to provide access to business resources while continuously protecting the business in a world of evolving cyber threats targeting mobile devices, users and applications.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition is not expected to impact Akamai’s full-year financial results nor its previously stated operating margin goal for 2020.

Akamai headquarters in Cambridge, Massachussets. Image: Billykamenides, on behalf of Akamai Technologies (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com