Investor's Business Daily, May 3rd, 2007
Microsoft this week introduced its first broad security software package for businesses, at a time when longtime security vendors Symantec and McAfee are ramping up their own wares.
Competition is getting tougher as the corporate world seeks safety from a large variety of threats. Tech security providers are striving to win business customers by selling more comprehensive protections.
While it might sound simple, there's no one path to that goal.
Symantec SYMC, McAfee MFE and Microsoft MSFT are taking somewhat differing approaches.
Symantec, for instance, is stressing the importance of detecting brand new viruses by how they act, rather than relying just on the traditional anti-virus approach of looking for signatures, or hallmarks, of known viruses.
"Signature-based is still important," said Brian Foster, a Symantec senior director of product management. "But ... signature-based anti-virus is just not enough. There needs to be more protection."
A Long-Term Investment
Microsoft Wednesday unveiled a basic Forefront Client Security business software package, as well as a companion systems management product. Together they aim to combat viruses, spyware, Trojans and other threats in a centrally manageable way. Forefront Client Security costs start at $12.72 per user or device, per year, and $2,468 per year for the management console.
The world's largest software company, which has also entered the consumer security software field, has been investing in management and security for about five years, says Bob Muglia, Microsoft's senior vice president for its servers and tools business.
"It's a pretty important new long-term investment for us," he said in a product introduction Webcast Wednesday. "I guarantee you Microsoft's going to get it right."
Symantec also is getting something right. Its stock rose about 4.8% Thursday. Late Wednesday, the company reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that beat analysts' expectations. Net income after restructuring costs was 24 cents per share, 4 cents above views.
Revenue rose 10% from a year earlier to $1.36 billion. That was due mainly to improving results from products in the backup and storage, messaging, IT compliance and services areas, RBC Capital Markets said in a research note.
"In our view, the next major catalyst for Symantec will be the launch of Project Hamlet, its all-in-one endpoint 16roduct that will compete with McAfee's Total Protection Suite," Pacific Crest Securities said in a research note.
Symantec plans a June launch for its corporate anti-virus product code-named Hamlet. Shakespeare's Hamlet pondered taking arms against a sea of troubles. Symantec's Hamlet aims to protect against a wide sea of attacks, including new, unknown ones. It recognizes those by behavior. The technology for Symantec's approach came with its 2005 purchase of WholeSecurity.
Foster describes Hamlet as "an entirely different ballgame" from the technology of rivals McAfee or Microsoft.
"Hamlet is the culmination of a couple years of work to integrate not just Symantec's technologies, but a number of the important acquired technologies we have in our portfolio," Symantec Chief Executive John Thompson said in an interview Wednesday.
He says it will protect against online threats and the "leakage" of data. That risk has garnered more worry lately amid high-profile cases of credit card information theft and other data breaches.
Hamlet also is aimed at improved network admission control, or ways that dictate what users and actions are allowed on networks.
McAfee lately has tailored some of its products around managing risks. It said last fall that growing compliance and regulatory requirements, plus changing threats, have forced businesses to re-think how they approach and manage security.
Among security firms, McAfee's products are best at addressing network access control, says Natalie Lambert, an analyst at Forrester Research.
"They have the most broad client security," she said, speaking of security on computers and devices attached to networks.
Over the next 12 months, Lambert expects McAfee will blend more data loss prevention technologies into its Total Protection Suite security products for businesses.
McAfee's interest has been sparked by a steady parade of data breach incidents nationwide. Thefts or losses happened at retailer T.J. Maxx TJX, two University of California campuses and other places. Incidents helped spur McAfee to buy data-loss software firm Onigma last year.
Setting Data Transfer 'Rules'
McAfee has since built Onigma's technology into two products that prevent data loss. One came out in February. The other's due in May. The technology lets firms set "rules" for data transfer in their networks.
"It will prevent data loss or the transmission of data we classify as sensitive. Whether you're talking about downloading to a USB stick, a simple execution such as printing, screen capture, transmission of e-mail," said Kevin LeBlanc, a McAfee group manager. "All that is blocked."
By getting into this area, LeBlanc says, McAfee is moving away from being just a threat protection company. It's helping firms also understand their level of risk and ways to mitigate it, he says. Several acquisitions over the past couple years aid McAfee's effort to build a risk management foundation.
Symantec has been getting into risk management as well, and it has made some larger acquisitions than McAfee. Last month it completed its $830 million acquisition of Altiris. That firm's technology helps manage PCs and other devices that connect to networks.
