Brief: EMC Adds Security With $2 Billion Acquisition Of RSA

EMC dug deep in its pockets Thursday to expand its scope by acquiring RSA Security for about $2.1 billion.

The deal will provide EMC with an expanding base in its attempts to become a full-featured information management company.

According to terms of the deal, EMC will pay $28 per share in cash in exchange for each share of RAS and the assumption of outstanding options, for a total purchase price of about $2.1 billion. The deal is expected to close in the late third quarter or early fourth quarter.

Upon completion of the acquisition, RSA will operate as EMC's Information Security Division, and will be headquartered in Bedford, Mass. Art Coviello, CEO and president of RSA, will become an executive VP of EMC and president of the new division.

EMC has been on acquisition binge, having announced three acquisitions in June and six in the past two months.

Symantec followed the opposite path as EMC; beginning in Dec., 2004, when Symantec announced plans to acquire storage management vendor Veritas; a purchase that Symantec intended to use to help transform itself from a security vendor to an information-management company.