Akamai Technologies Inc. has acquired identity-management software firm Janrain, expanding the offerings the Cambridge-based cloud technology company can offer its enterprise customers.
Janrain, a privately held company based in Portland, was founded in 2002 and has more than 200 employees. Its software enables corporate customers to outsource login and digital-certification technology work. For Akamai (Nasdaq: AKAM), the acquisition allows the Cambridge-based internet company to sell to enterprises that are growing or digitizing their businesses while providing more web security and identity awareness products.
“It is challenging to conduct business online without an inherent and expected level of digital trust,” said Rick McConnell, president of Akamai Technologies and general manager of Akamai’s web division, in a release. “Janrain’s Identity Cloud, working together with Akamai’s Intelligent Edge Platform, will provide an added layer of security to allow our customers to know more about their end users and potentially drive additional revenues from that deepened relationship.”
The acquisition price of the all-cash deal was not disclosed.
Akamai said it plans to integrate Janrain’s Identity Cloud software into Akamai’s Intelligent Edge platform, boosting security in two specific areas: bot management and threat intelligence. Akamai’s Bot Manager software focuses on the risks of so-called “credential abuse” by detecting and managing bot activity at login and registration time.
The acquisition will bolster Akamai’s Bot Manager service, which it launched in 2016. At the time, Akamai estimated more than 60 percent of web traffic on some sites may be generated by bots. Bot Manager is meant to give companies more tools understand and avoid the onslaught of fake traffic.
Akamai said the Janrain acquisition will cut its earnings per share in 2019 by 5 cents to 6 cents per share, but will increase earnings per share in 2020.