Security Software Competition Heats Up

I wrote recently about the AntiSpyware competition getting nasty but I can also tell you the competition in our industry in general is really starting to heat up. Customer dissatisfaction with the top industry leaders, Symantec and McAfee has left openings for others to gain market share.

Number three Trend Micro recently saw the value of the popular HiJackThis and acquired the free software utility. The resulting attention has more people talking about Trend Micro and checking out their newest products.

Now, number four Panda Software has been gobbled up by a venture capital firm based in Europe. European Capital Partners has a number of internet products and a strong presence in Spain, France and England. The addition of Panda Software rounds out their online technology and media partners. I expect EUCAP will expand their market into more countries and begin to increase the visibility of Panda  Software solutions.

I’ve always said that people love cute animal logos.

Here at home, GRISOFT maker of the AVG Internet Security picked up some new technology with the acquisition of Ewido networks. According to GRISOFT CTO, Karel Obluk, “The acquisition of Ewido Networks is the first step in fulfilling our vision of easy to use comprehensive protection against all kinds of cyber threats,"

My guess is, this is only the beginning.  Before the year is up there will be some big winners and losers especially as Microsoft tries to convince users they have all the security you’ll ever need.