**Editor’s Note: Please click here for a recap of the biggest channel-impacting merger and acquisition news from February.**

AppRiver, a provider of cloud-based cybersecurity and productivity software and services, is buying Roaring Penguin Software, an Ottawa, Ontario-based email security firm, to establish a growing Office 365 business in Canada and further differentiate its product offering.

Roaring Penguin offers anti-spam and antivirus email filtering software to a broad base of MSPs, internet service providers, universities, governments and commercial businesses throughout North America and Europe. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Kevin Hatch, AppRiver‘s chief financial officer, tells Channel Partners the acquisition will benefit AppRiver’s partners, most immediately those based in Canada.

AppRiver’s Kevin Hatch

“They will soon be able to resell Office 365 through AppRiver,” he said. “They will have the best reseller pricing available, backed by our Phenomenal Care — live, 24/7 support that’s available by phone, email or chat. That’s significant because AppRiver was one of Microsoft’s original Office 365 go-to-market partners and our team has more support experience than any in the business. Only a handful of our support calls are escalated to Microsoft. And for those few, we have priority service. In addition, the Roaring Penguin technology will be incorporated into AppRiver’s spam and virus filtering engine. The two systems complement each other nicely, each making the other stronger. Our partners will be able to offer a best-of-breed platform that remains easy, effective and affordable.”

In terms of Office 365, AppRiver and its partners already have the “competitive advantages of price and award-winning support that will now extend across our northern border into Canada,” Hatch said.

“Beyond that, the combination of AppRiver and Roaring Penguin technologies will strengthen our SecureTide spam and virus filtering service, and allow us and our resellers to stay ahead of cybercriminals,” he said. “At a time when the anti-spam space is becoming stagnant, we are continuing to innovate and improve our service.”

Roaring Penguin’s customers and partners have been notified of the changes, and the transition to AppRiver is expected to be complete by midyear. Officials of both companies expect no disruption of service during the change.

Roaring Penguin’s partners now can offer their customers AppRiver’s full suite of security services — including spam and virus filtering, web malware protection, email encryption, archiving and eDiscovery, email continuity, and email hosting through Office 365 or Exchange. They also will have access to training and certification, sales and marketing assistance, and 24/7 live support — all at no additional charge.

“We did our homework before making the decision to join forces with AppRiver,” said Dianne Skoll, Roaring Penguin’s founder and CEO. “The company’s reputation for incredible customer service, combined with its long track record in the security space, reassured us that our partners and clients will be well taken care of. Roaring Penguin becoming part of AppRiver just makes a lot of sense on many levels. We spent two decades developing and perfecting technology that will now be available to a much larger base of users as part of a true best-of-breed spam and virus filtering system.”