[infowar.de] iDefense steht zum Verkauf

[Ralf Bendrath <bendrath -! - zedat - fu-berlin - de>]

Infowar.de, http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~bendrath/liste.html
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Die Firma von James Adams...

http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174637.html

By Michael P Bruno, Washtech
CHANTILLY, VIRGINIA, U.S.A.,
20 Feb 2002, 3:58 PM CST
 
Online security firm iDefense Inc. of Chantilly is seeking a buyer and
could sign a letter of intent within weeks, the company's chief
executive said. The four-year-old company's sale would come after it
massively streamlined last year before entering and emerging from
bankruptcy.
 
"We could probably reach some kind of letter of intent in two to three
weeks and close it in 60 days," iDefense President and CEO Brian Kelly
said. "Everything is fast tracked."

Kelly said iDefense is in discussions with six serious bidders, whom
he declined to identify. Four of the possible buyers are locally based
and all are interested in the online security sector. He is looking
for an offer of $8 million to $10 million. The company provides its
customers warnings against threats from hackers or other IT problems.

Kelly joined iDefense in January 2001, about when it started to run
into trouble from ambitious growth plans, he said. Kelly culled the
company, cutting its workforce from 60 to 25. He also closed its
forensics, certification and consulting lines of business to focus on
the company's "core" intelligence offering.

But by the following summer, iDefense still was dragging debt of $9
million to $10 million, Kelly said. The company filed for voluntary
Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in Alexandria last August, also
listing assets of $1 million to $10 million.

IDefense restructured its debt by converting its outstanding warrants
into private stock. The conversions came in two rounds, where either
four or six warrants were swapped for one share, Kelly said. IDefense
emerged from bankruptcy two months later in October with its remaining
25 employees and 37 customers, he said.

Now, Kelly sees a wave of acquisitions about to hit the security
market and he thinks the increased interest can bring financial
investment needed to rebuild iDefense. "This is going to be the year
of the roll-up in the security sector. We have to position ourselves
now to really play a piece in that."

IDefense started in May 1998 as Infrastructure Forum but changed its
name to Infrastructure Defense - doing business as iDefense - in July
1998. It has landed roughly $15 million in funding total from friends,
family, USWeb/CKS and e-Capital Investments plc. E-Capital provided at
least $200,000 to get iDefense through bankruptcy and will keep
funding the company through acquisition, Kelly said.

The local e-security sector has experienced several acquisitions
lately. Centreville data-security firm Para-Protect Services Inc. said
it planned to sell its customer contracts to competitor Riptech Inc.  
of Alexandria, a move that all but closes Para-Protect. And TruSecure
Corp. of Herndon, a provider of information security services to
government and commercial customers, acquired Three Pillars Inc., a
Norcross, Ga., provider of security outsourcing, monitoring and
intelligence services.

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