First off, that integration may take awhile--sometimes years--leaving users in limbo. And once it happens, it's no sure bet that it will mean better technology.

"Consolidation can bring value to security buyers as more and more security functions are managed from a single point, but the consolidated management can come at the cost of solution effectiveness," Brown says.

Certain security functions, such as IPS, require best-of-breed technology, he says: "If it's not the best solution, it could be very damaging to your network. It could do more harm than good."

Second, support can take a hit after an acquisition, as in Pentz's case. The personal touch a small company can offer may be lost.

"If you're working with a small company, there are a handful of people you can get in touch with and have the problem solved, and not have to worry about a bunch of red tape or levels of bureaucracy," Brown says. "With the big guys, it's possible to build those sorts of relationships but its certainly more difficult."

Even if support issues eventually are ironed out, there is always a period of uncertainty and downtime after a merger when a user has to learn how the new ...

Acquisitions by strategic partners also can complicate relationships. A few years ago, McKenna says, CIGNA chose BMC for a provisioning solution, but its strategic partner IBM bought identity management software firm Access360. Now, CIGNA is migrating off of the BMC product to IBM's.

In contrast, Symantec's acquisition of Sygate Technologies is a "great marriage" for CIGNA since the company already worked closely with Sygate, McKenna says.

But, other times an acquisition can leave a customer with obsolete technology when a vendor decides to drop a product it acquires. For example, after buying Sygate, Symantec last fall decided to discontinue the Sygate Personal Firewall and Personal Firewall Pro products and gave users of the consumer firewalls discounts on replacement Symantec products.

Earlier last year, F5 Networks bought the intellectual property and patents for Watchfire's AppShield Web application firewall, and then worked with Watchfire to transition AppShield customers to its own application firewall, TrafficShield. Watchfire had acquired AppShield when it bought Sanctum in 2004. Andrew Stern, F5 director of security product marketing, says it's inaccurate to say F5 discontinued AppShield because the company was never in the AppShield business.

< PREV PAGE   |   1  |   2  |   3  |   4  |   5  |   6  |   7  |   NEXT PAGE  >