MessageLabs IM deal to kick off buying spree?

UK email security company MessageLabs has bought US secure instant messaging specialist Omnipod in a deal which the company's co-founder said could mark the start of an acquisition spree.

Jos White, president and co-founder of MessageLabs, told silicon.com the move is in line with an attempt to broaden his company's portfolio beyond its managed email service roots and protect every type of messaging technology.

"This is a really significant move for us," White said. "We recently took our first steps beyond email with our move into content security [through a partnership with ScanSafe] and now we're taking another major step, into IM."

"It is a step towards our vision to secure all data," said White, adding that there are likely to be more acquisitions on the horizon.

"I would be very surprised if this is the last," he said of the acquisition, adding that MessageLabs is currently also looking at mobile data traffic as well as VoIP.

White said time to market and a desire to own its own intellectual property were the reasons behind buying rather than building or partnering on an IM solution. The fact Omnipod's customers have also already bought-in to a hosted model was one deciding factor for making the putchase.

The catalyst for wanting such an option, which will be offered separately to MessageLabs' current offerings, was customer demand.

"IM services have been something our customers have been asking about more and more," said White, who added that the technology "has moved from being a toy to being a tool within the enterprise".

He said the major drivers for companies requiring IM solutions have been "compliance and IM viruses" coupled with the fact some have "quite grudgingly" accepted IM is here to stay.