Trend Micro To Acquire Antispyware Vendor InterMute

Terms of the deal, which is pending regulatory approval, weren't disclosed. With the acquisition, Trend Micro will add an antispyware point product to its lineup of security software suites with integrated antispyware capability, said Lane Bess, president of North American operations at Trend Micro's U.S. office in Cupertino, Calif.

"Our partners and customers have wanted the choice to have stand-alone antispyware products," Bess said in an interview with CRN. "And [in InterMute] we also saw some technology in some of the spyware definitions that would complement our definitions."

Trend Micro hopes to transition InterMute's flagship antispyware product, SpySubtract, into a Trend Micro-branded product within 30 days, according to Bess. Last month, Trend Micro introduced several new security suites designed to combat spyware.

On the channel front, Trend Micro plans to recruit InterMute solution providers for its partner program, Bess said. Some, if not all, of InterMute's partners already are Trend Micro resellers, he added.

Braintree, Mass.-based InterMute had launched a new channel partner program in March. The fledgling program now has about a half-dozen partners, and it includes sales training, lead generation, bimonthly forecasting and dedicated account managers, according to InterMute.