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Netilla & AEP: Hands Across the Ocean

Even as 2004 rumbles to a close, the M&A deals are still coming thick and fast, as Irish IPSec specialist AEP Systems Inc. yesterday joined forces with New Jersey-based SSL VPN vendor Netilla Networks Inc., a deal boosted by a $5 million injection of capital (see AEP and Netilla Merge, Raise $5M).

AEP Systems CEO Pat Donnellan will assume the same role in the new company, AEP Networks. Netillas CEO, Reggie Best, will become AEP Networks’ executive vice president of marketing.

Best told NDCF that the companies will have a combined workforce of around 55 people, with key offices in Somerset, N.J., in the U.K., and in Ireland. The firms will sell their products into a combined base of 1,200 users, he adds.

The exec believes users are clamoring for technologies that enable site-to-site connectivity with Web-based access for users -- hence the combination of IPSec and SSL VPN.

Is there really a demand for this type of thing? Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at The Enterprise Strategy Group Inc. certainly thinks so. “It’s kind of the direction where things are going,” he says. “It helps AEP and Netilla move toward having a one-stop shop.”

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