Microsoft today confirmed the completion of its acquisition of enterprise security provider Sybari Software.

Originally announced in February, the Redmond giant said that the acquisition adds a "critical security component" to its offerings.

Under the terms of the acquisition Sybari will continue to trade as a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, developing enterprise protection products for the Windows platform.

"Customers have told us that they want powerful security solutions for the enterprise to help protect their messaging and collaboration servers from viruses, worms and spam," said Mike Nash, corporate vice president at Microsoft's Security Business & Technology Unit.

Microsoft will continue to offer Sybari products for Windows, including Antigen for Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint Portal Server and SharePoint Services.

Sybari's Antigen for Instant Messaging, Antigen for SMTP Gateways, Sybari Enterprise Manager, Advanced Spam Manager, Advanced Spam Defense and Antigen for Domino on Windows NT will also continue to be developed after the takeover.

However, Microsoft stated that it will discontinue new sales of Antigen products for the Unix and Linux platforms.

Additionally the software giant promised to continue to offer customer support for the complete range of Sybari products offered before the acquisition.

The existing Sybari sales channel and licensing models will remain intact for the "immediate future", and Microsoft's Sybari operations will continue to have their headquarters in New York.