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UK-based SurfControl has bought an Australian firm which makes an e-mail filter similar to that made by Baltimore's recent acquisition, Content Technologies.
SurfControl's purchase includes EmU Tech, Australia's leading supplier of e-mail filters, and its Sydney-based primary sales partner, Lanvision. It paid a total of USD5.35 million, of which USD1.03 million was in cash and the balance in shares.
The purchase, coming only weeks after Baltimore's takeover of Content Technologies, highlights a growing level of investment in companies which produce sweeping tools, both for surfing and for e-mail. Sales of filters, both for home and business use, are expected to total USD4 billion over the next four years.
SurfControl specialises in filters which prevent either children at home or office workers in a corporate enviroment from accessing porn sites or other unsuitable material and has built up a worldwide market for its products.
Both EmU Tech and Baltimore's new subsidiary sell products which filter porn and other unwanted material out of e-mail. SurfControl said the EmU Tech product range fitted naturally into its existing product range.
In October, Baltimore Technologies paid STG414 million for US-based Content Technologies, funding the deal in part by floating 40 million new shares. It said at the time that the STG66 million it raised would also fund future acquisitions.
Irish security services company Entropy is the primary distributor in Ireland for for Pornsweeper, the Content Technologies anti-porn product. The programme can actually scan attachments to detect whether there is a high degree of skin pigmentation.
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