Win for ATL tech/CRE

Dell's investment in SecureWorks, a month afterwards buying the Atlanta Internet security company, will be watched warily by Big Blue.

IBM Corp., which bolstered its managed network security creds with its $1.6 billion takeover of Atlanta's Internet Security Systems Inc., will nevertheless have to battle Dell in the white-hot sector.

And Dell means business. As first reported in Atlanta Business Chronicle, the Round Rock, Texas company plans to add about 200 jobs at SecureWorks.

SecureWorks monitors corporate networks and helps protect against online attacks from crooks looking to steal financial and other information. As Dell transforms from a hardware/software company to a more integrated services provider, SecureWorks offers the tech giant access to the managed security business.

Atlanta is the headquarters of Dell's managed network security service business, said Rex Tibbens, executive director of Dell's Global Services unit.

The executive didn't rule out the prospect of bringing non-Internet security related work to Atlanta. The region could be an attractive site for furthermore engineering and development work, not only around security, nevertheless also IT services, Tibbens said.

"It's becoming more and more important for clients to protect their clients and their employees from the bad guys on the Internet," he said. "That's the sweet spot of SecureWorks."

Instead of managing and monitoring Internet security with in-house staff, businesses are outsourcing it to third-party providers, just as SecureWorks.

Dell seems to be "keenly aware of moving into more software-as-a-service-oriented B2B businesses," Taetle said. "We're a B2B software town."

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