Orange-based M86 Security Inc., a maker of Web filtering servers and software for small businesses and schools, has acquired Israel’s Finjan Ltd. for undisclosed terms.
Finjan makes what’s called secure Web gateway software, which is loaded on a specialized server that sits on the edge of a corporate network.
It filters out viruses that come from clicking on Web site links or downloading files from the Internet.
“Their patented technology sees malicious code that the normal antivirus vendors do not,” said Eric Lundbohm, vice president of marketing for the Americas at M86.
Finjan’s technology helps filter out harmful software, also called malware, from Web sites that are deemed OK by a network.
“One of the things that’s changed in the past year is that many times legitimate sites are hacked and malware is injected into them,” Lundbohm said. “You can go to a trusted site and your computer can be infected with a drive-by virus.”
Finjan has some 75 workers who are set to join M86. It will keep its office in Netanya, north of Tel Aviv. The office develops software and handles sales to Europe. Finjan also has a small sales office in San Jose.
Earlier this year, M86 bought Utah’s Avinti Inc., a small company that makes software to filter out viruses and other harmful software in e-mails.
M86, formerly Marshal8e6, was formed when Orange’s 8e6 Technologies Inc. and Britain’s Marshal Ltd. combined last year.
Finjan and M86 have a close history with each other.
At one point, M86 tested out Finjan’s software for a potential licensing deal.
“It started as an agreement to license software, but it has blossomed into something larger,” Lundbohm said.
M86 Chief Executive John Vigouroux, who took the post in April, was Finjan’s former top guy.
M86 also hired Werner Thalmeier as vice president of product management. He held the same post at Finjan.
The hires “will make the integration less painful and quicker than it otherwise might be,” Lundbohm said.
Kingston Movies
Fountain Valley’s Kingston Technology Co., the biggest maker of memory products for computers and consumer electronics, signed a deal with Viacom Corp.’s Paramount Pictures Corp. to put full-length movies on some of Kingston’s flash memory gear.
Kingston Digital Inc., the company’s flash memory unit that’s estimated to see $1 billion in 2009 sales, struck the deal with Paramount’s digital entertainment division.
The movies are set to be sold as part of a bundled package of Kingston’s Data Traveler universal serial bus drives and digital memory cards sold in stores and online.
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is out on a Kingston drive and goes for about $30. The drive holds 4 gigabytes of data, so there’s plenty of room left over for storage.
Terms of the deal and other titles available weren’t disclosed.
Board Addition
Cypress-based Universal Electronics Inc., a maker of remote controls and software for home electronics, recently added a board member.
Carl Vogel is joining Universal’s board for a total of seven directors.
Vogel is a partner at New York-based SCP Worldwide, which owns the National Hockey League’s St. Louis Blues and Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake.
SCP Worldwide in October made news when it excluded Rush Limbaugh from its bid to buy the St. Louis Rams football team.
Vogel also sits on the board of Canada’s Shaw Communications Inc., and he previously was a board member at Dish Network Corp.
Vogel formerly was the president, chief executive and director of Charter Communications Inc., a St. Louis-based cable operator.
“Carl’s extensive experience in the cable television, satellite, telecom and content sectors is a valuable asset as we execute on our strategy to win new customers globally and deepen our relationships with existing customers,” Universal Electronics Chief Executive Paul Arling said.
Villalobos Scholarship
The friends and colleagues of entrepreneur and Tech Coast Angels founder Luis Villalobos are starting an endowed fellowship fund for a master’s of business administration student at the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine.
The Luis Villalobos Endowed Fellowship in Entrepreneurship is designed to honor Villalobos, who died Oct. 1 at the age of 72.
Tech Coast Angels is a loose coalition of startup investors in Southern California. The group said earlier this year it had reached the $100 million mark in money invested in startups.
Candidates for the endowment must meet requirements for admission to the Merage business school as well as display an interest in entrepreneurship and starting or being part of a new business.
Applications are set to be reviewed by a committee of donors.
