For , the acquisition gives it an alternative e-mail security offering to BrightMail, the company's antispam and antivirus appliance. MessageLabs offers a hosted . to the deal (along with the McAfee-Secure Computing transaction) with surprise given the high valuations of the acquired companies. 

10. Gores/Siemens-Enterasys: $550 million

This one's a little tricky. Enterasys will be combined with Siemens' Enterprise Communications group, of which a controlling interest was acquired by The Gores Group, the private equity firm that owns Gores will also include its SER Solutions call center software company in the joint venture. The result will be a $5 billion firm with more than 1 million customers, 15,000 employees and a presence in 80 countries, according to a fact sheet on the Siemens Enterprise Communications site. Gores will own a 51% stake in the joint venture while Siemens retains 49% ownership. Sadly, the CEO of Enterasys not long after the deal was made. 

11. McAfee-Secure Computing: $465 million

The September deal was touted as combining Secure Computing's in firewall, Web and e-mail gateway filtering with McAfee's intrusion prevention, desktop encryption, data-leak prevention, antimalware, regulatory compliance and centralized management McAfee CEO Dave DeWalt said at the time that the move is part of McAfee's efforts to offer a broader suite of products. McAfee earlier this year announced the purchase of data protection appliance and software maker .