CHANTILLY, Va. (April, 2017) – An investor Group led by ANA Holdings [TYO:9202], Dentsu [TYO:4324] and six other Japanese companies have capitalized Blue Planet-works (formerly KeepTree Japan) to form a new global leader in cyber security. Blue Ridge Networks contributed its AppGuard line of business for cash and significant equity ownership in the company to commence immediate global distribution of breakthrough AppGuard software and services for endpoint protection. Blue Ridge Networks will continue to distribute AppGuard in the US and serve as the Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) for customer operations through an agreement with Blue Planet-works.
John Higginbotham, Chairman and CEO of Blue Ridge Networks noted “the experienced leadership and extensive institutional presence in the new company will enable it to quickly build a leading global brand leveraging AppGuard’s breakthrough performance for preventing breaches without a compromise occurring”. Hiroshi Nakata, Chairman and CEO of Blue Planet-works added, “after careful consideration and comprehensive examination of endpoint security solutions, we have found AppGuard as the most effective scalable security solution to prevent breaches. AppGuard reliably stops malware that is able to evade other security solutions in the marketplace.”
Blue Planet-works will have initial offices in Tokyo Japan, New York City and Chantilly, Virginia. Mr. Nakata went on to say, “we will utilize the working capital provided by our Japanese investors for global business development and to enhance capabilities for expanded use of the AppGuard Enterprise foundation for numerous market verticals including the next battle front in IoT security”.
The new investors in Blue Planet-works also include Information Services International-Dentsu, Sompo Japan Nipponkoa, DaI-ichi Life Insurance Holdings [TYO:8750], PCI Holdings, and Daiko DenshiTsushi, who will use the AppGuard cyber security system to protect their own enterprises. Stephens Inc., served as a financial advisor to Blue Ridge Networks in this transaction.
Mr. Higginbotham also commented, “the capital provided to Blue Ridge through this transaction will allow us to remain a strong services and sales partner for Blue Planet-works. Further, we can now expand provision in public and private sectors, including IoT, critical infrastructure, and sensor based networks, of our proven network security solutions that complement Blue Planet-works solutions.”
