Microsoft harpoons Whale for security

Microsoft's Security, Access, and Solutions Division has finalized purchase of Whale Communications, maker of secure access products for enterprise clients, including secure-socket layer, virtual private network (SSL VPN) technology. Microsoft said it hopes that the acquisition deal, announced in May, will help bolster its plan to offer to businesses a full security-access platform--particularly with regard to SSL VPNs and Web application firewalls. So far, that hasn't been an easy task for the software giant.

Fort Lee, N.J.-based Whale, whose Web site now announces its status as "A Microsoft Subsidiary," isn't the only small company that Microsoft has netted recently: Earlier this month, the software giant acquired Windows-utility manufacturer Winternals.