Hewlett-Packard is at war with the world. Its $13 billion acquisition of EDS positioned it to do battle in professional services and outsourcing with longtime rival IBM. It bought Mercury Interactive to outflank Oracle and IBM in the middleware market. And it's now bought 3Com to bolster its second-place position in the networking market against its increasingly hostile "frienemy" (friend and enemy) Cisco Systems.

But picking up 3Com comes with an added benefit: a boatload of security technologies, particularly the TippingPoint intrusion prevention line.

HP has been making noise about security for years, but has failed to do more than tip its toes into the security technology and services marketplace. HP has long considered itself a security player, since many enterprises leverage its OpenView management system for security. Its acquisition of SPI Dynamics in 2007 gave it a solid threat mitigation story and talent for building its current line of security code analysis tools and virtual patching products. Earlier this year, HP announced that it would be launching its own firewall built on the ProCurve switch platform. And it's inked a sweeping alliance with McAfee to resell its entire portfolio of software and hardware products through EDS. But these initiatives haven't convinced the general partner or end-user community that HP stands alongside the likes of Symantec, McAfee, Check Point and Cisco in the security world.

3Com may finally tip HP into the security world and make it a legitimate player.

3Com has long had network security products—firewalls, intrusion prevention, unified threat management and wireless security—as part of its portfolio. After a disastrous attempt at integrating the TippingPoint line into the mother ship, 3Com wisely decided to operate the IPS pioneer as a stand-alone company. When the 3Com acquisition closes, it means that HP will have access to dozens of new security products for midmarket and enterprise customers. Overnight, HP will be a legitimate security player that can compete against Cisco and others in the risk management and data protection game.

Becoming a security player and becoming a security leader are two different things. 3Com isn't exactly a market leader in any of its security segments. While TippingPoint is a solid IPS hardware platform, it trails McAfee and Cisco in market and mind share. In wireless security, it stands toward the end of the line against Check Point, Cisco, SonicWall, NetGear and others. And even the addition of proven firewalls won't necessarily threaten the business of Cisco, Check Point, Fortinet, SonicWall, McAfee and WatchGuard.

Part of the reason HP is buying 3Com is to keep up with Cisco. Cisco's Unified Computing Strategy and deepening alliance with EMC and VMware threaten HP's leadership position in data centers and the x86 server market. HP, which is No. 2 in data networking switches, is looking to pressure Cisco's core revenue stream as Cisco is pushing into domains traditionally owned by HP and IBM. 3Com could be just enough to give HP the critical mass needed to threaten Cisco's $1 billion-plus security business.

Here's the bet: The first signal of HP's security intentions will come with how it treats its standing relationship with McAfee, which is TippingPoint's primary competitor. If HP cuts ties with McAfee, it will be a pretty good indication that it's finally going to get serious about growing its security practice.

There are also rumors that Sophos is talking with larger vendors about being acquired. Sophos, a U.K.-based company, trails other security vendors in market share in network-based antivirus, anti-spam, data loss prevention (DLP) and encryption. In recent months, Sophos has stepped up its relationship with HP by offering free antivirus software to HP customers who buy Integrity servers. Could an HP-Sophos marriage be in the offing? Bringing Sophos under the HP umbrella after the 3Com deal would definitely make HP a security player.