The acquisition of McAfee by Intel is unquestionably one of the biggest takeovers of this year. Potentially, this is going to rock the IT world as much as, say Oracle-Sun did last year. With a sum of almost 7.7 billion dollar, it is a large buy even for a giant like Intel. And it shows Intel means business, as the price reflects a 62 percent premium on the share price of the day the deal was made.

Why? Obviously, most experts are surprised by this takeover. Intel is pure hardware. McAfee is pure software. The customer base is different. There is no synergy between the companies. McAfee does not even do appliance based security.

However, there is some method to this madness. The main reason Intel gives for buying McAfee at first glance looks illogical. As mentioned before, McAfee does not do security on the level of the chip, so when Intel says that hardware security is becoming more and more vital, it is just hurling sand in our eyes. But the other reason is much more logical: mobile devices.

Think about it: mobile devices are computer systems in their own right, with as many (if not more) attack vectors for malware. By buying McAfee, Intel buys the number two in security, so they are actually buying knowledge. When Intel would, say, bring a new smartphone to market, they can inbed antimalware in the system. And guess what: smartphones are more closed than normal IT systems. So the whole security sphere is covered by Intel. This business model is quite proven in a broader context: the iPhone.

One has to wonder if Intel succeeds in making McAfee's software less bloated as it is now.

What do you think?