Year: 2017

INTERPOL and British Telecom (BT) have signed an agreement which will see increased cooperation between the two organizations to prevent and combat cybercrime. Signed at the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) in Singapore, the accord will see BT and INTERPOL share threat intelligence data relating to criminal trends in cyber-space, emerging and known cyber-threats and malicious attacks. BT’s threat intelligence experts will provide the IGCI with their knowledge and unique insight into the evolving global threat landscape, helping INTERPOL in its efforts to identify and take action against cyber-criminals operating around the world. Earlier this year BT was one of the seven private sector companies which provided support to an INTERPOL-led operation targeting cybercrime across the ASEAN region. BT’s threat intelligence and investigation team, based at the company’s security operations centre in Singapore, provided information on regional threats, including data relating to local hactivist groups and phishing sites. The wider operation uncovered nearly 9,000 command and control (C2) servers, which are typically used to launch distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks and spread malware, ransomware and spam. Hundreds of compromised websites, including government portals, were also discovered as a result of the investigations. “The scale and complexity of today’s cyber-threat landscape means cooperation across all sectors is essential if we are to effectively combat this global phenomenon,” said Noboru Nakatani, Executive Director of the IGCI. “INTERPOL’s agreement with British Telecom is an important step in our continued efforts to ensure law enforcement worldwide has access to the information they need to combat these evolving cyberthreats,” added Mr Nakatani. Mark Hughes, CEO, BT Security, said, “Threat intelligence sharing between law enforcement agencies and the private sector is essential in the fight against cyber-crime, which is increasingly borderless in nature. Tackling cyber-crime therefore requires a collective, global response where the public and private sectors work hand-in-hand. “BT’s security expertise will help INTERPOL identify cyber-criminals and hold them to account, while their intelligence will enhance our understanding of the challenges that we and other organisations face in the battle against cyber-attacks,” concluded Mr Hughes. BT is the first telecommunications provider to sign such an agreement with INTERPOL.

ASSA ABLOY has signed an agreement to acquire August Home, a leading smart lock business in the US. “I am very pleased to welcome August into the ASSA ABLOY Group. August constitutes a strategic addition to the Group and reinforces our position in the residential smart door market,” says Johan Molin, President and CEO of ASSA ABLOY. “August Home strengthens our residential smart door strategy with complementary smart locks, expansion into video doorbells and comprehensive solutions for home delivery,” says Thanasis Molokotos, Executive Vice President of ASSA ABLOY and Head of the Americas Division. August was founded in 2013. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California and has approximately 90 employees. Sales for 2018 are expected to reach around USD 60 million (approx. SEK 500 million). The acquisition will be dilutive to EPS. The acquisition is conditional upon regulatory approval and is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2017.

HID FARGO Connect cuts the cord between printers and dedicated PCs for a new way to create and securely issue IDs. The cloud-based HID FARGO® Connect™ solution has won the 2017 Campus Safety Best Awards in the Access Control & Identity Management category. As the world’s first cloud-based card personalization and issuance solution, HID FARGO Connect untethers printers from dedicated computers to offer a new way to create, personalize and securely issue IDs and credentials. “HID FARGO Connect addresses a growing market demand to simplify the management and delivery of IDs, especially for high-volume issuance requirements in environments with large populations,” said Craig Sandness, Vice President and Managing Director of Secure Issuance with HID Global, “This recognition underscores yet another solution from HID Global that powers trusted identities through an innovative approach to card personalization.” HID FARGO Connect makes it possible to issue ID cards from anywhere and from any device via the web – all in a trusted environment that leverages the industry’s most secure cloud technologies with end-to-end encryption. Users can create new cards or issue replacements, encode data and manage print queues through a secure and trusted system.

Extreme Networks, Inc., has signed an asset purchase agreement with Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. to purchase the company’s switching, routing and analytics (SRA) data center business for substantially the same terms as the previously announced agreement between Extreme and Broadcom. The transaction is expected to close within 30 days and is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of customary closing conditions. “We expect this agreement directly with Brocade to accelerate our ability to close our acquisition of the data center business,” said Ed Meyercord, President and CEO of Extreme Networks, “This is a very positive development for all stakeholders, but especially for customers, partners and employees of Brocade’s data center networking business. Given all of the work that has gone into our business integration planning and our proposed product roadmap, Extreme is now poised to bring this deal over the finish line.” The acquisition of Brocade’s data center networking business will strengthen Extreme’s position in the networking market and expands the company’s state-of-the-art portfolio of data center, core, campus and edge networking solutions. As part of the transaction, Extreme will acquire customers, personnel and technology assets from Brocade, further solidifying Extreme as a top solution provider for enterprises in its target verticals of education, hospitality, healthcare, retail, transportation and logistics, manufacturing and government. “We are pleased to move forward with an agreement to directly divest our data center networking business to Extreme,” said Lloyd Carney, CEO of Brocade, “We believe this decision will position the business for continued success, and is in the best interests of our shareholders, customers, partners and employees aligned with the business. Extreme’s complementary portfolio of products, coupled with its planned continued investment into our roadmap and its commitment to continued support of our products, make it a great fit for our business and a positive outcome for our stakeholders.” Purchasing the data center networking asset directly from Brocade does not impact Extreme’s strategic partnership with Broadcom, which will continue uninterrupted. Extreme continues to anticipate the transaction will be accretive to cash flow and earnings for its fiscal year 2018, which began on July 1, and expects to generate over $230 million in annualized revenue from the acquired assets.

Top analyst firm confirms NICE a Leader in Biometric Authentication and Fraud Detection Market. NICE has been recognized by Opus Research as one of the top tier vendors in both authentication and fraud detection using voice biometrics. The company was noted for the breadth of its contact center solutions and the depth of its integration capabilities, as well as a consistently strong execution of its strategic vision. NICE stood out among a total of 19 companies evaluated in Opus Research’s 2017 Voice Biometrics Intelliview report. Its fraud prevention solutions were recognized for their robustness such as integration with rules-based analytics tools assessing massive amounts of data and metadata. NICE was also lauded for its success in building an impressive roster of corporate customers, and a correspondingly large database of voiceprints, and the range of NICE real time authentication solutions incorporating voice biometrics, including passive enrolment, was noted as among the broadest available. Opus Research further placed NICE among the top of its field for meeting service level agreements and commitments, as well as its deep integration capabilities, strong business relationships, and a proven ability to execute its strategy and vision. Ravin Sanjith, Program Director for Intelligent Authentication at Opus Research said, “In recent years, dramatic changes have taken place in both technology capabilities and market dynamics for voice biometrics solution providers. NICE’s leadership in the voice biometrics market reflects the company’s success in building an impressive roster of corporate customers and a correspondingly large database of voice prints. NICE has been a pioneer in the market, delivering on a range of unique, fully integrated voice biometrics, analytics and fraud solutions, streamlining all authentication-related processes in one product; with the latest innovation being first to market with passive enrolment for self-service channels.” Miki Migdal, President of the NICE Enterprise Product group said, “NICE is proud to be an industry leader in voice biometrics, which includes rapid and transparent multi-channel authentication using a single voiceprint across channels, and a unique historical passive enrolment solution, neither of which requires complex integrations or prolonged implementation processes. For our contact center clients, the result is a reinvention of customer experience, with unprecedented enrolment rates and improved satisfaction, as well as cost savings from day one and a quicker ROI.” The Voice Biometrics Intelliview report, subtitled ‘Solutions to Optichannel Challenges,’ provides enterprise executives competitive context for 19 firms offering authentication solutions that include voice biometrics. The report is part of Opus Research’s mission to provide critical insight and analysis of enterprise implementations of software and services that support multimodal customer care and enterprise mobility strategies.

Johnson Controls has completed the previously announced sale of its Scott Safety business to 3M for approximately $2.0 billion. Scott Safety is a leader in high performance respiratory protection, gas and flame detection, thermal imaging and other critical products, and is expected to generate sales of approximately $575 million and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of approximately $160 million in fiscal 2017. Net cash proceeds from the transaction were $1.9 billion, and will be used to repay a portion of Tyco International Holding Sarl’s $4.0 billion of merger related debt. For fiscal 2018, dilution related to the sale of Scott Safety is expected to be fully offset by lower net financing charges, a lower effective tax rate resulting from the transaction, as well as the benefit of share repurchases completed in fiscal 2017.