Sunbelt Software to acquire Kerio Personal Firewall
Best of breed firewall will become part of company’s desktop security product line
Clearwater, Florida, USA — December 1, 2005 — Sunbelt Software and Kerio Technologies, Inc. today announced that the parties have signed an agreement for Sunbelt to acquire the Kerio Personal Firewall. The acquisition is expected to be finalized by the end of the month. Terms of the deal are undisclosed.
The Kerio Personal Firewall will be re-branded on an interim basis as the “Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall”. All existing customers of the Kerio Personal Firewall will be able to receive support through Sunbelt once the acquisition is completed.
Upon the close of the deal, Sunbelt will also announce new reduced pricing for the full version of the product and a variety of special offers for both Kerio and Sunbelt customers. Additionally, Sunbelt will continue Kerio’s tradition of providing a basic free version for home users.
“The popular Kerio firewall is a clear technology leader in endpoint security for businesses and consumers,” said Alex Eckelberry, president of Sunbelt Software. “We are thrilled to have it as part of our product line and Kerio users should know that we are firmly committed to continuing to provide world-class support for the product.”
“We feel that Sunbelt is uniquely positioned to offer both best in class support and ongoing product development for Kerio Personal Firewall and its legion of loyal users,” said Martin Viktora, CEO and CTO of Kerio Technologies, Inc. “We are pleased that this product has found such a deserving home.”
The deal is expected to close before the end of the year. During the transition period, Kerio will continue to support the product and users are encouraged to download the Kerio Personal Firewall from the Kerio website at www.kerio.com until the acquisition is completed. After the transition, all existing Kerio Personal Firewall resellers will be invited to become Sunbelt reseller partners to continue to sell the product.
As Kerio transitions from the desktop security market, the company will focus its energies on the development of its two leading SMB products - Kerio MailServer and Kerio WinRoute Firewall. For more information, please visit http://www.kerio.com.
About the Kerio Personal Firewall
The Kerio Personal Firewall is a powerful and industry-leading firewall that provides both firewall protection as well as host-based intrusion prevention (HIPS) and content filtering. The product was introduced in 2002 with over 2,000,000 downloads worldwide. In a recent 4-star review, PC Magazine said “Kerio Personal Firewall 4 was the best in this roundup. Its users can choose moderate program control with no pop-ups, or unusually powerful protection after an initial spate of pop-ups”.
About Kerio Technologies Inc.
Innovating in Internet security since 1997, Kerio Technologies Inc. (www.kerio.com) provides Internet messaging and firewall software solutions for small to medium sized networks, emphasizing the secure delivery of network data. Kerio’s corporate headquarters are located in Santa Clara, California, with offices in Great Britain and the Czech Republic. Kerio’s technology partners include McAfee, Inc. and Internet Security Systems. Kerio MailServer, Kerio WinRoute Firewall and Kerio Personal Firewall can all be purchased globally using the Internet and a network of more than 200 resellers.
About Sunbelt Software
Headquartered in Tampa Bay (Clearwater), Fla., Sunbelt Software was founded in 1994 and offers product solutions to protect and secure systems from costly inefficiencies such as spam and spyware.
Sunbelt Software is part of the Sunbelt International Group, which includes Sunbelt Software and Sunbelt System Software in Europe. The Sunbelt System Software group has offices in the UK, France, Belgium, Sweden and Germany.