Morningstar Analyst On IBM Rumored Interest In FireEye: Watson And Analytics Could Tie-In With FireEye

Speaking to Benzinga, Morningstar Analyst Pete Wahlstrom said that he was “not terribly surprised” by the Dealreporter rumor that International Business Machines Corp. IBM is interested in FireEye Inc FEYE.

Wahlstrom explained that IBM management is making a concerted effort to get into new-wave analytics and security offerings.

“What I think is interesting is that IBM is four times as large as FireEye in terms of security revenue, and IBM already scores very well in the security area with its QRadar product,” he said.

He pointed out that this could tie into IBM’s efforts to commercialize its artificial intelligence computer, Watson.

“Security is one potential area where it can be a little bit more forward-looking and track things on the edges of the network,” he said.