Avast Software has closed its acquisition of AVG which was announced in July.
CEO Vince Steckler said the move will allow the two traditional security software companies to better compete in today’s competitive security market.
Avast said it would acquire AVG for $1.3 billion. The deal brings AVG’s anti-virus, remote monitoring and management, Internet security, mobile security and cloud security offerings to Avast’s own anti-virus, mobile security, email security and file server offerings. In total, the combined companies will protect 400 million endpoints, of which 160 are mobile.
There is a huge overlap in the two companies’ business processes, as well as a “fair amount” of overlap in the product portfolios. Initially the pair will run as two separate brands in the consumer space with a combined security engine on the back end that will be available starting in January. Avast has not yet decided whether it will combine the brands of the two corporate portfolios.
The pair will have a single partner programme, likely incorporating Avast’s partners into the AVG program. AVG has a bigger partner network and both sets of partners will have access to the full set of solutions of both vendors under the combined programme.
