Symantec acquires LiveOffice

business deal

Security giant Symantec has acquired cloud-based archiving firm LiveOffice for $115 million (75 million).

LiveOffice partnered with Symantec as its original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for the firm's Enterprise Vault offering, but will now be fully integrated into the company.

Symantec said the deal would help bridge the gap between its storage and eDiscovery units, as well as increase its presence in the cloud computing space.

Overall, it means the security firm will be able to offer on-premise, cloud or hybrid solutions, allowing for a bigger push of its governance portfolio.

"The governance of information is increasingly important to businesses," said Katey Wood, analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. "Companies need to simultaneously control and liberate information, letting employees freely access the information they need for maximum productivity without resulting in compliance risks to the organisation."

"By bringing together on-premise and cloud-based security, archiving, classification and eDiscovery, Symantec provides a solution that can help organisations proactively classify, retain and discover information while reducing risk and avoiding costs."

The deal completed on 13 January 2012.