In what is being seen as the formation of a strong new brand, Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) and Websense have merged, rebranding to what will now be known as Forcepoint. Raytheon spent $1.9 billion on the merger deal that took place back in May 2015. Raytheon-Websense also acquired network security vendor Stonesoft from Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), through a $389 million deal in what it explained to be an expansion of capabilities.
According to John McCormack, CEO of Forcepoint, a change is as good as a rest and having been in security for 20 years, McCormack confirms that modern security challenges require a broader approach, which the three entities are striving to achieve.
Recently, many companies have been struggling with the running of 25 to 50 different applications to tighten cybersecurity coverage. However, McCormack was quick to note that this was leading to the exhaustion of chief information security officers (CISOs), a challenge that Forcepoint is aiming to solve to unify an integrated platform.
As much as Forcepoint was formed to attend to the harder challenges of modern cyber-security, McCormack says that it will require billions of dollars of investment in order to deliver the integrated platform. Nevertheless, the new company has assured its local customers that it will be business as usual.
While letting go of the Websense brand was a slight diappointment, Forcepoint Asia-Pacific vice president of sales Maurizio Garavello said that their aim was to give the market a better product. McCormack backed up Garavello’s statement by adding that they want to form a roadmap for what they stand for, and that a stronger name epitomizes their vision.
Meanwhile, with the current competition in the security world of 2016, Forcepoint says it is ready to compete against Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC) and Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), among others. Nonetheless, McCormack said that theirs will be a unique strategy in the industry. Forcepoint’s product portfolio will include various state-of-the-art technologies, hence the reason it is willing to spend billions on the investment. Shared synergies in multiple areas could benefit security intelligence.
