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Process Automation Technologies | Phoenix Contact Snaps Up Cyber Security Vendor | Control Global

ControlGlobal.com
07/10/2008

By Andrew Bonds, Industrial Automation Insider

News released at Hanover Fair, but inexplicably overlooked by us at the time, is that Innominate, the Berlin -based cyber security specialist, has been acquired by Blomberg, Germany-based Phoenix Contact. In 2007, the two companies entered into a strategic partnership which formed the basis for close technological collaboration. Since then, Innominate’s mGuard technology has formed the basis for Phoenix Contact’s Ethernet Security products. Phoenix Contact describes the acquisition as a strategic enhancement of its industrial automation technology.

Solutions

Innominate offers solutions in the two main areas of industrial Ethernet security and secure remote maintenance of machines and industrial equipment. Its mGuard product line, supplemented by device management software, includes hardware firewall, VPN and virus protection. Only last month it joined Boston- based Industrial Defender’s Partner Program, while its technology was recognized in the award of the Global Ethernet Security Leadership accolade by Frost and Sullivan at Hanover. “We are looking forward to an even closer collaboration with Phoenix Contact,” said Innominate CEO Joachim Fietz. “The deal provides us with a major opportunity to strengthen our position as an important supplier of the international industrial machinery and equipment sector.”
Innominate’s loss of independence could pose problems for vendors that currently use its technology including, for example, industrial Ethernet specialist Hirschmann. At the same time, it could provide a boost to the MTL/Byres Security Tofino solution recently adopted by Yokogawa.