EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) is about to make sure that internet session intelligence and behavioral analysis becomes about as big as virtualization. That may seem like a hard claim to believe, but EMC acquired the then-privately-held VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) back in 2004 in a $625 million acquisition and it is now the leader in virtualization.  EMC just announced the acquisition of privately-held Silver Tail Systems.

Acquisitions of private companies generally do not get much attention. Still, this is EMC we are talking about and web intelligence and behavioral analysis is only going to grow as a business as the need is only growing for internet and web security. Silver Tail Systems is called “a leader in real-time web session intelligence and behavioral analysis.”

After the deal closes, Silver Tail Systems will operate within the RSA security division of EMC. It is said to extend RSA’s Identity Protection and Verification capabilities and is expected to add to other areas in the RSA enterprise security portfolio.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2012, subject to certain closing conditions.  The acquisition is not expected to have a material impact to EMC GAAP or non-GAAP EPS for the full 2012 fiscal year.

If you look at the Silver Tail vision on its website, it states, “It is our goal to protect as many Internet users as possible – by protecting the websites those users rely on. We know that the criminals have vast resources, deep expertise, and unlimited motivation. We are committed to giving our customers the tools they need to level the playing field in the fight against online criminals.”

A news search shows that in 2011 a Series B funding round of about $20 million was led by Andreessen Horowitz and by existing investors of Leapfrog Ventures, Seraph Group, and StartUp Capital Ventures. Silver Tail was also named to the VentureWire’s FASTech 50 in 2011.

EMC has a market cap of $50 billion and the latest close of $23.91 compares to a range of $21.25 to $30.00 over the last 52-weeks. VMware is still under the super-majority control of EMC even though it is a public company and its market cap is currently about $36 billion.

JON C. OGG

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