Report: Microsoft purchases Whale

Software giant Microsoft has purchased data-security company Whale Communications, according to a report on the Hebrew news Web site Ynet.

The deal is worth between $70 million and $80 million, according to the report.

The move is seen to be part of Microsoft's plan to turn its Israel bureau more toward research and development, the report said. The company announced a second R&D center in Israel at the end of April and appointed Moshe Lichtman to the post of president of R&D, Israel, according to the report.

Though Microsoft has operated in Israel for 30 years, other international companies are beginning to also take interest in the country after Warren Buffett's purchase of Israeli company Iscar last week.

Whale Communications was founded in 1998 as "an early pioneer in the SSL VPN market and was the first vendor to introduce client-side security and access control," the company said.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International