| By Maureen O'Gara |
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| August 20, 2012 08:00 PM EDT |
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5,535 |
EMC has $5.65 billion in cash in the bank and Bloomberg says it wants to buy security software houses with it to fuel growth.
COO Joe Goulden told the wire service last month that security is the biggest area for potential acquisitions since the company already had "all the key parts we were looking to put together" in data storage.
He also said that security had to be "reinvented" for the cloud and that a bunch of start-ups are doing that very thing.
An analyst suggested Palo Alto Networks, which just IPO'd late last month and is currently valued at around $4.4 billion, might be a target. So could Fortinet and Check Point Software Technologies. All three are firewall companies.
Citigroup thinks IBM and Cisco could be targeting Palo Alto too, but only after the patent infringement suit brought by Juniper Networks is resolved. That could take more than a year. Citi is certain Palo Alto will get taken out.
Besides Oracle, EMC is touted as the best acquirer in the business. VMware being its very best buy. Its acquisitions account for its not-too-shabby revenue growth.
Maureen O'Gara the most read technology reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected technology reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025. Twitter: @MaureenOGara
