IBM Completes Acquisition of Watchfire

IBM today announced that on July 20, 2007, it completed the acquisition of Watchfire Corporation, a privately held security and compliance testing software company based in Waltham, Massachusetts.

IBM announced a definitive agreement to acquire Watchfire, a leading provider of web application vulnerability assessment and compliance solutions, on June 6, 2007, to help customers guard against online security attacks and compliance breaches.

The acquisition extends the IBM Governance and Risk Management strategy by broadening security and compliance management capabilities in the software development lifecycle. Successfully managing IT governance and risk management as a lifecycle is critical as businesses today are facing increasing globalization, staggering regulatory complexity and an ever-evolving security threat landscape.

IBM is integrating its Rational software quality management solutions with Watchfire's security and compliance testing services to enhance and simplify the web application development process. In addition to Watchfire, IBM has added several governance and risk management capabilities through recent acquisitions in its Global Technology Services and Software Group divisions, including Internet Security Systems, Consul, FileNet and Micromuse.

About Watchfire

Watchfire provides software and service to help ensure the security and compliance of websites. Watchfire's online Risk Management and Web Application Security testing software help drive significant cost out of the online operation by automating manual processes and identifying and prioritizing issues for immediate remediation.

Watchfire's technology and consulting partners include IBM Global Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sapient, Microsoft, Interwoven, EMC Documentum and Mercury. Watchfire is headquartered in Waltham, MA.

More than 800 enterprise organizations and government agencies, including AXA Financial, SunTrust, Nationwide Building Society, Boots PLC, Veterans Affairs and Dell rely on Watchfire to help improve their online initiatives.