Bomgar To Buy BeyondTrust To Fortify Privileged Access Muscle

Two of the world's leading privileged access vendors are joining forces to create an even more comprehensive portfolio and boost user productivity.

Atlanta-based Bomgar has agreed to purchase Phoenix, Az.-based BeyondTrust, creating an 800-employee privilege security behemoth with more than 19,000 customers and $300 million in combined annual bookings. The combined company will adopt the BeyondTrust name and be led by Matt Dircks, who has served as Bomgar's CEO since May 2014.

Dircks told CRN that he was impressed by the maturity of the BeyondTrust partner program, the depth of the company’s expertise in the privileged access space, and the ability of the BeyondInsight IT risk management platform to deliver products in an integrated fashion, making it easier for technology partners and systems integrators to add value.

[Related: 10 Security Experts On The Biggest Danger Businesses Face From GDPR]

Bomgar helps secure privileged credentials, remote access sessions and endpoints, while BeyondTrust's privileged access management platform allows firms to scale as threats evolve across endpoint, server, IoT, cloud and network device environments. The increased scale and resources of the combined company will allow for accelerated innovation and technology that combats constantly evolving threats.

Specifically, the combination of BeyondTrust's market-leading privileged access management platform and Bomgar's advanced privileged session and endpoint protection tools will result in the broadest portfolio for securing and defending organizations against threats related to the compromise and misuse of privileges, according to the company.

Bomgar and BeyondTrust do not have any overlapping products, Dircks said, but they do have overlapping capabilities around credential management and delegation and privileged escalation management for Windows and Mac. But when it comes to Unix and Linux server management, Dircks said BeyondTrust brings capabilities to the table that Bomgar didn't have before.

"The stupidest thing we could do is take something that's working and screw it up," Dircks said.

Terms of the deal, which is expected to close Oct. 1, were not disclosed. Bomgar was acquired by technology-focused private equity firm Francisco Partners in April, while BeyondTrust has been owned by government-centric private equity firm Veritas Capital since September 2014.

"With private equity, you're never for sale, but you're always for sale at the right price because you owe that to investors," Dircks said.

Bomgar hadn't made any acquisitions between its founding in 2003 and last year, but has already purchased two companies in 2018 alone. The company acquired Los Angeles-based privileged identity and credential management software vendor Lieberman Software in February, and bought Cheshire, England-based endpoint privilege management vendor Avecto in July.

The company opted for the BeyondTrust name since it has the strongest brand recognition in the privileged access management space, where Dircks said the company is looking to be number one globally. However, Kevin Hickey – BeyondTrust's president and CEO since May 2012 – will be leaving the company in the coming months after a brief stint in an advisory role.

Bomgar and BeyondTrust will be focused on maintaining high levels of customer service and support, developing integrated and easy to use products, and building out the channel, according to the companies.

BeyondTrust is a couple of years ahead of Bomgar from a channel perspective thanks to their investment in a partner support networks, tools and enablement, according to Dircks. Their progress and level of maturity will allow the combined company to enjoy success in the channel more quickly while minimizing bumps and bruises along the way, Dircks said.

Given BeyondTrust's partner presence, scale and mass, Dircks said Bomgar will largely defer what's already been working and successful for them. Dircks expects that the integration process will have progressed far enough by 2019 for legacy BeyondTrust partners to easily cross-sell legacy Bomgar products and vice-versa.

Getting acquired by Bomgar should make BeyondTrust a stronger player with a larger, more robust client base, according to Rosa Caputo, founder and CEO of Toronto-based KeyData. Caputo hopes the combined company will continue to strengthen the product roadmap to ensure the company remains positioned as an industry leader.

"Clients want to see that the products keep up with all the risks they're facing," Caputo said. "I think it's positive for BeyondTrust."

Caputo praised BeyondTrust's technology for being lightweight and easy to implement, and said that KeyData's clients have been happy with the success and implementation of the product. KeyData has enjoyed "exponential growth" with BeyondTrust since becoming a partner 2.5 years ago, Caputo said, with BeyondTrust becoming KeyData's third-largest vendor in the identity management space.

"The product does the job that it says it does," Caputo said. "They've got all the key components that are needed."