Considering Dell's focus on business IT, it should come as no surprise that their announcement of the pending acquisition of the SonicWALL firewall company, will address some enterprise security concerns relating to the 'Consumerization of IT' and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) trends. SonicWALL is a provider of data protection solutions and enterprise-grade network security.

Dell will buy SonicWALL from Thoma Bravo LLC, a private-equity firm. The price has not been disclosed, but is expected to be more than one-billion dollars.

John Swainson, president of Dell's software group said: "SonicWALL gives Dell access to unique intellectual property resources and technology that position us well in fast growing parts of the software security business".

Dell has focused on business IT needs by offering cloud and mobile security solutions. The SonicWALL acquisition expands that portfolio with a range of firewall, remote-access, back-up, e-mail, anti-spam, and network security solutions, using SonicWALL's Unified Threat Management technology.

The deal is expected to be finalized within 45 days, with Centerview Partners LLC serving as an adviser to SonicWALL.