The Boxer team at a company outing in August.
Austin-based Boxer was acquired by VMWare this week, in a move that represents a major boost for mobile security in enterprise IT.
Under the deal Boxer will become part of Atlanta-based AirWatch, which produces solutions for enterprise mobility and security. AirWatch secured a $200 million Series A funding round in February 2013 before VMWare acquired it last year for $1.54 billion. Acquiring Boxer will help VMWare and AirWatch deliver the consumer-simple experience users have come to expect from mobile apps without sacrificing security.
VMWare’s CTO and vice president of product management, Noah Wasmer, said in a statement that professional mobile apps must meet new expectations from end users as IT is increasingly consumerized by SaaS and mobile technology.
“We believe that we have only scratched the surface of the potential for business mobility,” he said, “and we are taking it to the next level by further driving our vision of consumer simple, enterprise secure with Boxer.”
In his own blog post, Boxer CEO Andrew Eye called AirWatch the industry leader in enterprise mobility and “an obvious fit” for Boxer, which will continue development of its consumer apps.
It’s unclear whether Boxer will relocate to Atlanta, given that this week also brought news of Round Rock-based Dell’s acquisition of VMWare’s parent company, EMC Corporation.
