Symantec, a security, backup and storage provider, stated it had bought privately held LiveOffice for $115 million in a deal announced alongside the release of a new information governance solution. LiveOffice offerings focus on storage, governance and compliance with email as well as unstructured information from social media and file sharing. LiveOffice was Symantec’s hosted archiving OEM partner for its Microsoft email service, Enterprise Vault.cloud.
Deepak Mohan, Symantec SVP, said in a statement on the announced deal that LiveOffice’s archiving and e-discovery offerings are part of an effort to “deepened its commitment” to delivering on-premise, cloud and hybrid information management solutions. On the LiveOffice website, Symantec VP Jeff Hausman touted the governance angle in LiveOffice’s offerings.
Headquartered in Torrance, Calif., LiveOffice was founded in 1998.
It was the first acquisition announced by Symantec since its $390 million buy of archiving and e-discovery provider Clearwell Systems in May 2011. In a recent conference call on software industry transactions and expectations, merger and acquisition analysts from Corum Group noted that Symantec was one of a handful of big-name vendors that had been notably quiet over the past year, which was possibly a hint at activity to come.
Justin Kern is senior editor at Information Management and can be reached at justin.kern@sourcemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @IMJustinKern.
