Entrust to acquire content scanning capabilities

Entrust Inc. is buying advanced content scanning and analysis technology from AmikaNow! Corp., which provides e-mail content scanning and anti-spam tools, the company announced today. Terms of the deal, which is scheduled to close in June, were not disclosed.

Entrust will use the technology to assist enterprise and government customers in complying with e-mail policies and regulatory guidelines.

"Entrust customers will benefit from a modular yet comprehensive secure messaging product suite that addresses the emerging secure e-mail boundary market, including policy management, content filtering, anti-spam, anti-virus, boundary and end-to-end e-mail encryption," said Bill Conner, Entrust's chairman and chief executive officer.

Entrust will brand and integrate Ottawa-based AmikaNow!'s technology within its solutions portfolio. It is targeting initial products for the end of 2004. The company also intends to offer Entrust-branded, advanced content analysis capabilities as standalone products to customers.

The regulatory guidelines that the company's government customers must comply with include the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Gramm-Leach-Bliley and the Canadian federal government's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

Entrust of Dallas offers identity and access management solutions. The company has more than 500 employees and annual sales of $87.9 billion, according to Hoover's Online of Austin, Texas.