Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) has agreed to acquire identity-management software company, Janrain to beef up its web security offerings.
Since its inception in 2002, Janrain has focused on developing futuristic customer identity and access management software and is particularly famed for the Customer Identity Access Management (CIAM).
Integrating Janrain & Akamai software
Through CIAM, Janrain enables its enterprise customers to offload login and registration workloads. It is safe to believe that Akamai Technologies negotiated the acquisition to get its hands on the cutting edge software which it will integrate with its proprietary Intelligent Edge Platform.
The resultant product is expected to enforce enterprise-grade security and regulatory compliant online traffic.
The integration of the two leading security software to create and even solid product is driven by the enterprise market demand for safety and digital trust. Given the rising demand for cloud technologies and rapidly growing need to digitize operations among enterprise customers, security and identity awareness has become a significant concern.
Akamai has leveraged on this niche and for a while now has invested on extensive security features to protect the millions of transactions flowing through its Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform.
With the acquisition, Akamai is looking to beef up its security measures by adding a complementary capability that is hoped to enhance customers and users digital trust by providing a safe ecosystem- secure custody for sensitive user information.
As explained by Rick McConnell, the Presiden of Akamai Technology doubling as the overall manager of Akamai web division, “Janrain’s Identity Cloud, working together with Akamai’s Intelligent Edge Platform, will provide an added layer of security to allow our customers to know more about their end users and potentially drive additional revenues from that deepened relationship.”
Akamai’s bot management
Merging Janrain’s offering with that of Akamai will yield immediate security advantages to CIAM customers particularly those relying on the Bot Management and threat intelligence.
The Bot management detects and manages robot (bot) activity during account login and registration thus averting associated threats. The system neutralizes suspicions without affecting user experience whatsoever.
Akamai is committed to rooting out robot activity driving fake traffic. In the past, the company estimated that about 60% of web traffic on some websites is robot-generated, thus fake.
Through Akamai’s Threat intelligence, customers can dictate the type of users to be allowed to access and register for any services or products on their pages.
The integrated technology will exhibit solid accuracy and scalability and will protect from suspicious account activity including fraudulent account sign-ups and identity theft.
Jim Kaskade, CEO, Janrain believes that by integrating the two companies’ security and authentification technologies, they can deliver accurate traffic results and enable trusted digital experiences.
The financial terms for the acquisition were not made public. However, based on the activity around the company’s stock after the announcement it is safe to believe that the company’s investors are pleased with the transaction.
Akamai’s stock thriving on the acquisition news
As of Wednesday trading session, Akamai Technologies’ stock rose by 1.30% to close the market day at $63.26.
Source: stockcharts.com
Although this is still far from the 52-week high of $83.08, it is a positive step forward and for what it’s worth it is above the company’s 52-week low of $57.18.
During the session, the shares traded to a high of $63.98 and a low of $62.31. The company boasts an impressive market valuation of $10.30 billion.
As part of a broader expansion strategy, Akamai Technologies announced plans to extend its Portland footprints after the acquisition of Janrain. According to John Summers Akamai’s Vice president and CTO, the company will strive to make Janraid the hub for identity management.