Moxa and Trend Micro form cybersecurity partnership with TXOne Networks

November 19, 2018 – Industrial communications and networking company Moxa Inc. has announced it is forming a new joint venture with Trend Micro Incorporated, a  cybersecurity solutions provider.

TXOne Networks will focus on the security needs present in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) environments, including smart manufacturing, smart city and smart energy.

Information technology (IT) and operations technology (OT) have traditionally operated within industrial organizations as isolated and independent networks with different teams, objectives and requirements. Organizations are teeming with machinery and devices that were not originally designed for connectivity to the corporate network, which means they often lack the ability to be easily updated or patched for security measures. There is a critical need to secure these devices, identify clear ongoing ownership, and to provide a holistic view across the broadening attack surface within enterprises.

Trend Micro, majority owner in TXOne Networks, says it has been working on several fronts to secure the entire ecosystem, from data centre to device. TXOne is meant to deliver deeper visibility into both devices and protocols, which is where Moxa’s expertise lies. These complicated environments are made up of multiple layers requiring protection that sits in and between IT and OT. The responsibility for the security of these combined layers is traditionally unclear.

TXOne Networks will build security gateways, endpoint agents and network segmentation to secure, control and provide visibility of operational technology and equipment. 

In addition to investing intellectual capital, funds and dedicated headcount, each parent company lends complementary channel expertise. For its part, Trend Micro brings IT channel partner strength while Moxa brings OT channel partner strength. Together, these reinforce the business model and geographic territory targets.

TXOne Networks will be led by Dr. Terence Liu, Trend Micro vice-president and former CEO of Broadweb. With experience building both products and teams, Liu will bring nearly 20 years of security product expertise to this new team.

TXOne solutions also will enable OT customers to optimize network infrastructure for more IIoT opportunities. They will benefit from Moxa’s expertise in building reliable networks to bring more legacy and disparate networks into on industry-grade Ethernet backbone and raising the security level of the entire network’s communication to help drive nonstop productivity and cost reduction. Professional services will also be provided including security risk assessment, security breach response and access to threat intelligence from Trend Micro Research and its Zero Day Initiative.

“In a world where attacks are getting more persistent and sophisticated, while organizations are struggling with skills shortage and alert fatigue, these two groups are joining forces to successfully secure enterprises around the globe,” says Liu. “I am eager to pursue the opportunities and challenges this team will tackle in the months and years to come.”