Qualys has acquired Layered Insight, a provider of cloud-based container security software. Layered Insight co-founders Asif Awan and John Kinsella have joined Qualys as CTO of container security and VP engineering, container security, respectively.
The transaction price is $12 million. In addition, the terms also include a potential $4 million earn-out, and another $4 million payment tied to the employment of key employees through 2019.
Layered Insight allows DevOps and SecOps teams to view container images and automate the enforcement of container behavior, the company claims. The startup -- launched in January 2018 -- has partnerships with Amazon Web Services, Docker, and RedHat. The company was also pursuing relationships with Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, and Pivotal as of June 2018.
Qualys expects the Layered Insight Solution to be integrated into its Cloud Platform by the second half of 2019, the companies say. It's unclear if Layered Insight had a formalized channel partner program. We're also checking to see if the technology is multi-tenant for potential MSSP use.
Layered Insight: Potential Customer Benefits
Armed with Layered Insight software, Qualys says customers will gain:
- Deep visibility into containers by mapping runtime behavior to gain a multi-dimensional (network, storage and system) view of container-based systems, Qualys says.
- The ability to detect and prevent security breaches during runtime. Users can set alerts for detected anomalies or enact auto-generated behavior policies to enforce control on the containers, Qualys asserts.
- Extended visibility, compliance and protection for serverless Container-as-a-Service (CaaS) deployments, such as AWS Fargate and Azure Container Instances, Qualys adds.
In a prepared statement, Qualys CEO Philippe Courtot said:
“This acquisition brings Qualys to the forefront of container security. With a highly scalable architecture, Layered Insight allows us to add runtime capabilities and automated enforcement to our current Container Security solution.”
Added Awan:
“We couldn’t have asked for a better growth platform for Layered Insight solutions than Qualys. Qualys’ massive customer base provides the perfect springboard for realizing our vision of putting Layered Insight technology in the hands of millions of users. We are very excited to join the Qualys team and work together on the shared vision of providing the best comprehensive security solution for all types of application workloads, running anywhere.”
Qualys Growth, MSSP Engagements, Partner Conference
Qualys remains in growth mode. Among the latest financial highlights:
- Revenues for the third quarter of 2018 increased by 20.5% to $71.7 million compared to $59.5 million for the same quarter in 2017, the company announced today. Also
- GAAP net income for the third quarter of 2018 was $23.5 million, compared to $8.5 million for the corresponding quarter in 2017.
The revenue and net income figures beat Wall Street's expectations.
MSSPs and cloud relationships have been core to Qualys's growth. The company in September unveiled automated compliance monitoring and assessment capabilities for Microsoft Azure. Earlier, the company launched a Consulting Edition of its tools for MSSPs and managed service providers (MSPs).
It's safe to expect major Qualys business updates during the company's Qualys Security Conference 2018 later this month in Las Vegas.
