Microsoft said it will acquire CyberX, a Microsoft security partner jointly invested by Qualcomm Ventures and Norwest Partners. The company’s latest acquisition provides new features for Microsoft’s Azure IoT security products, and may enable the software giant to play a greater role in the field of private wireless networks.

CyberX software can expand the scope of IoT security platforms by finding old IoT devices and adding them to the network, even if they use custom protocols. Microsoft said that CyberX customers include the Department of Energy, three of the top ten energy utility companies in the United States, and three of the top ten pharmaceutical companies in the world. Microsoft said that the acquisition will enable it to better help customers implement smart manufacturing, and US wireless operators are also eagerly paying attention to this business.

Monica Paolini, an analyst at Senza Fili Consulting, said: “I believe this is part of a strategy to further deepen wireless services.”

Before acquiring CyberX, Microsoft made two more acquisitions. In April, it closed its purchase of Affirmed Networks, which has a proprietary virtual evolution packet core. Microsoft said it will also acquire Metaswitch, a leading manufacturer of virtualization software for network functions.

Microsoft is part of at least two deployments running its IoT Central on a dedicated LTE network. One is to cooperate with Rogers in Canada, and the other is in Los Angeles, and does not involve operators because it uses publicly available spectrum. These were all deployed before buying Affirmed, Metaswitch and CyberX, all of which will put Microsoft in a strong position in future IoT projects using private networks.

Dimitris Mavrakis, director of telecommunications network research at ABI Research, said that Microsoft will not try to differentiate operators from private network services. Microsoft is not expected to deploy private cellular networks on a large scale, but it is certain that certain projects will need to do so.

Dimitrios Pavlakis, an analyst of IoT security at ABI Research, said: “There are many companies and startups that are suitable for CyberX files that operate in industrial cybersecurity. Some of these companies (such as Dragos) quickly ascended to the top because they managed to address the growing cybersecurity threats in the ICS field. Any organization whose internal strategy is consistent with cybersecurity in the Internet of Things will be interested in acquiring and cooperating with the aforementioned companies.”