EMC, the giant of storage hardware and data management software, is acquiring RSA Security for just under $2.1 billion. Storage vendors have been buying much smaller security companies, but this deal's scale is unprecedented. Just a few years ago EMC and others said security did not need to be baked into storage, but now they say customers demand it. Analysts from Wall Street and the industry are mixed in their opinions of this deal, and most say EMC overpaid. Symantec was said to be a possible buyer as well, so it's open for debate.

For more on the deal:
- read this Computerworld article
- check out this BusinessWeek article

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