SafeNet Buys Cryptocard

SafeNet said Monday it would combine its on-premise security technology with U.K.-based Cryptocard's Blackshield cloud platform. The integration will provide SafeNet with cloud-based authentication, which historically has had the most traction among companies with fewer than 1,000 employees, government agencies and higher education.

"By joining forces and engaging SafeNet’s global scale, we (the combined company) are uniquely positioned to help customers around the world accelerate the migration to and from the cloud in the most secure and cost effective manner," Chris Fedde, president and chief executive of SafeNet, said in a statement.

Belcamp, Md.-based SafeNet is owned by Vector Capital, which bought the company in 2007 and merged it two years later with Alladdin Knowledge Systems, which had a strong presence in the eToken market, according to Gartner. An eToken plugs into a computer's USB port and supplies the user authentication and password for accessing the system.

Besides eTokens, SafeNet's other major product lines encompass software rights management and cryptography for data protection. Gartner estimates that SafeNet accounts for roughly 20 percent of the total authentication market by customer numbers with tens of millions of end users. The company had $455 million in revenue in 2010.

Gartner estimates the total authentication market in 2011 was roughly $2 billion, about 20 percent higher than the year before.