LogMeIn buying password manager LastPass

The companies expect to close the deal, valuing Marvasol at between US$110 million and $125 million, in a matter of weeks.

LogMeIn is firmly in the enterprise market, while Marvasol has been steadily extending the LastPass secure password storage tool in that direction, with password sharing and group access functions.

LastPass stores an encrypted version of its customers' passwords in the cloud, allowing them to unlock and access them with a single password from almost any Internet-connected device through either secure browser plugins or a web interface. The company offers apps for Android and iOS, as well as plugins for Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and Safari. Using the service on a single device category is free; multiple categories requires a subscription.

Online password storage services like LastPass or Dashlane compete with standalone apps such as 1Password, KeePass or Password Safe.

LogMeIn sees LastPass's more consumer-focused customer base and tools as important to deal with the bring-your-own-device and bring-your-own-app challenges faced by its existing corporate customers.

It intends to add features to LastPass found in the identity management tool Meldium that it acquired a year ago. Meldium is a password manager for teams, designed to work with collaboration tools such as Box, Github, Google Apps, Zendesk or Slack. For now LogMeIn plans to maintain both product lines, but ultimately expects to merge the two under the LastPass brand.

LogMeIn is expanding its product offering in other ways too. On Wednesday it said it would extend its Xive.ly identity management offering to encompass the Internet of Things.