Report: Dell Confidentially Files For IPO Of SecureWorks Cybersecurity Unit

Dell has filed for an initial public offering of its Dell SecureWorks Inc. cybersecurity business, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The confidential IPO filing comes about four years after Dell acquired Georgia-based SecureWorks for about $612 million.

SecureWorks has been working with banks including Bank of America and Morgan Stanley on the IPO deal, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing unnamed sources.

[Related: 25 Acquisitions That Paved The Way For Dell's Enterprise Evolution]

Michael Crean, president of Virginia-based Dell Security partner Solutions Granted, told CRN an IPO of SecureWorks is a good move for Dell.

"SecureWorks has huge brand recognition, and there might have been a little confusion because Dell owned it, but it operates on its own," Crean said. "This allows the industry to see it as independent. By letting it be its own thing, it demystifies it significantly."

The IPO filing comes as Dell reportedly negotiates a blockbuster acquisition of EMC Corp. The acquisition, which could ring in at $40 billion to $50 billion according to reports, would make Dell an IT industry giant, reshape the enterprise computing landscape and set up a three-way battle for the data center between Dell-EMC, Hewlett-Packard and Cisco Systems.

The spinoff of SecureWorks and cloud software integrator Boomi were mentioned by private equity firm Silver Lake Partners managing partner Egon Durban at a Fortune event in July. At the time, Durban praised EMC's "federation" strategy and said Silver Lake and Dell were considering spinning out or combining certain high-growth businesses similar to the way EMC treats its federation companies.

Silver Lake helped Dell go private in a $25 billion leveraged buyout in late 2013 and owns about 25 percent of the company.

PUBLISHED OCT. 9, 2015