Managed email service provider Eurokom has acquired the security consultancy Zerflow for an undisclosed amount. The transaction involved a combination of a share swap and cash.
Under the terms of the deal, three Zerflow personnel will move to Eurokom’s premises in Rathfarnham and company founder Peter Hennessy will continue to run the business as a distinct unit within the company.
Eurokom will now support Zerflow’s current client base and workload. Eurokom managing director Seamus Conlon called Zerflow “unique” in the security sector because it concentrated primarily on security consultancy and audits as opposed to selling products. “It had a very good client base,” he pointed out. “We deemed them to be one of the best companies technically in terms of the reports they produced for their customers.”
According to Conlon, Eurokom had identified the security sector as a growth market for the company for some time before the opportunity arose to acquire Zerflow. Without the in-house skills, previously the company had partnered with other indigenous security specialists in order to provide this service to its own client base.
Conlon noted that recent data from the research firm IDC showed that security is one of the top priorities of Irish IT managers. In addition, vertical markets such as financial services and healthcare are coming under increasing legislative pressure that governs IT security. “People will be concentrating on this and we want to be a player in that area,” he told siliconrepublic.com.
Zerflow was founded in 2001 by Peter Hennessy, a former sales director of Silicon Valley Services in the UK. The company has been involved in some high profile audits over the past few years, notably as one of the consultancies that reported on elements of the Government’s proposed e-voting system.
By Gordon Smith
