Dell buys data protection partner Credant Technologies

Dell has made another security purchase, this time picking up Credant Technologies, an endpoint encryption company, for an undisclosed sum.

Addison, Texas-based Credant has maintained a longtime partnership with Dell, which has embedded the company's technology in its Dell Data Protection | Encryption product. Now Credant's technology will be engineered right into Dell PCs, according to the IT giant, which announced the acquisition on Tuesday.

"The Credant assets will complement and extend current Dell device security features to make Dell Latitude, OptiPlex and Dell Precision computers among the world's most secure," Jeff Clarke, president of End User Computing Solutions at Dell, said in a news release. "When combined with the change in compute behaviors and data in-flight, Dell can now offer a differentiated security proposition based on its own intellectual property."

Dell has been on a data security and management buying binge of late. In July, it spent $2.4 billion to acquire Quest Software, which sells software that allows enterprises to administer databases and servers, back up and recover information, and manage identities across multiple applications.

Four months earlier, it purchased SonicWALL, a California-based provider of unified threat management security software. And in January 2011, Dell procured SecureWorks, a managed security and consulting services firm that also has an accomplished research arm.