J2 Global Acquires Vipre In Bid To Advance Security In The Cloud

Endpoint security technology vendor Vipre is becoming part of J2 Global, a business cloud service provider and digital media business, through an acquisition deal the companies disclosed Wednesday. Together, the two companies say, they will provide a stronger barricade against online security threats.

The two companies will help their channel partners and end-customers bolster and advance their security profiles by combining J2's cloud infrastructure and global resources with Vipre's security technology, according to Clearwater, Fla.-based Vipre.

Jamie Box, vice president of worldwide sales for Vipre, will continue to lead the company's channel strategy as channel chief, a spokesperson for Vipre told CRN. Financial terms of the acquisition deal are not being disclosed.

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By combining Vipre with Los Angeles-based J2 Global, the companies can better provide customers, especially SMBs and the partners that serve them, with advanced security tools that can keep pace with the ever-growing number of potential security threats and increasingly malicious cyber-attacks, according to Vipre.

"Our goal, as always, is to provide our customers and partners with the modern, advanced security offerings they need to combat malicious threats—now and into the future … We’re excited to see our partners and customers reap the benefits," Vipre said in a blog post on the acquisition deal.

Channel partners and their clients, via the merged vendors, will be able to more quickly access new Vipre products and services through J2's far-reaching cloud infrastructure. At the same time, Vipre will be able to more quickly develop and deploy its own solutions using J2's cloud platform, the security company said.

Additionally, the acquisition gives customers and solution providers access to J2 Global's cloud-based offerings such as FuseMail, a product that provides spam and virus filtering, email archiving, and email encryption. FuseMail is a subsidiary of J2 Global.

Publicly-traded J2 Global released its Q4 2017 earnings on Wednesday evening, topping Wall Street's estimates with earnings per share of $1.79 compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 per share. J2 reported revenues of $316.0 million, up 25.6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2016, but falling short of analyst expectations of $319.0 million.