Honeywell [HON] on June 12 said it has agreed to acquire Nextnine, a provider of software for industrial cyber security and for remote monitoring of assets, adding to its cyber security technology portfolio.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Honeywell said it has “the largest cyber security research capability in the industry and has continued to increase its industrial cyber security offerings.” The company’s current solutions in this space include Risk Manager to proactively monitor for cyber threats, and Secure Media Exchange, which protects facilities against threats from removal media such as USB flash drives.
“Each day, the number of attempted cyber attacks on industrial facilities and critical infrastructure around the world increases,” Vimal Kapur, president of Honeywell Process Solutions, said in a statement. “This acquisition shows our ongoing commitment to providing our customers with a comprehensive portfolio of cyber security solutions to protect and defend their industrial control systems and process control networks. Honeywell’s extensive global reach will increase Nextnine’s availability to a broader range of customers.”
ICS Shield is Nextnine’s flagship technology and is used to protect industrial sites from cyber attacks as well as enable remote monitoring of assets. ICS Shield has been installed at more than 6,200 industrial sites globally across the oil and gas, utility, chemical, mining, maritime, semiconductors, pharmaceutical, and manufacturing sectors. Nearly 50 percent of its customers are in the Americas.
Honeywell said that currently, ICS Shield is deployed separately for each control system vendor, resulting in multiple and separate installations on a single customer site. With the acquisition, customers will be able to operate a single system, resulting in simpler and better security with Honeywell’s multi-vendor solutions.
Honeywell also said that Nextnine’s solutions will help enable Honeywell Connected Plant, which brings together the company’s industrial expertise and various technologies to improve its customers’ operations, including cyber security.
Nextnine’s backers include Infinity VC, XT Hi-Tech, and other investors. The company is based in New York and also has offices in Israel.