WATERLOO – BlackBerry is buying AI-based cybersecurity company Cylance for US $1.4 billion in cash, the company announced Friday.
Founded in 2012 and based in Irvine, CA, Cylance applies artificial intelligence, algorithmic science, and machine learning to cybersecurity software that has proven highly effective at predicting and preventing known and unknown threats to fixed endpoints, reads the news release.
BlackBerry said that it plans to integrate Cylance technology with its nascent Enterprise of Things (EoT) platform Spark.
“Cylance’s leadership in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity will immediately complement our entire portfolio, UEM and QNX in particular. We are very excited to onboard their team and leverage our newly combined expertise”, said BlackBerry executive chairman and CEO John Chen, in the release. “We believe adding Cylance’s capabilities to our trusted advantages in privacy, secure mobility, and embedded systems will make BlackBerry Spark indispensable to realizing the Enterprise of Things.”
Pending regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, BlackBerry added that the deal is expected to close prior to the end of its current fiscal year in February 2019. Cylance will operate as a separate business unit within BlackBerry Limited.
