Microsoft Antivirus Play Rattles Market

When announcing the acquisition deal last week, Microsoft said it plans to develop new antivirus solutions, use GeCAD's technology to boost the security of the Windows platform and extend support for third-party antivirus products.

"Viruses are evolving. The malicious code problem isn't solved," said Amy Carroll, group product manager for the Security Business Unit at Microsoft. "We need to do more to help Microsoft and the industry come up with solutions to meet those evolving threats."

Microsoft plans to offer an add-on antivirus solution with fee-based signature updates but doesn't yet have a time line for specific product releases, Carroll said.

Antivirus vendors won't stand a chance against Microsoft when it has its antivirus solution in place, said Gregory Stenstrom, CEO of Stenstrom Scientific, a security solution provider in Sewell, N.J. "If I were them, I'd get into another business," he said, pointing out that Microsoft crushed Netscape when it got into the browser business. "You get a company like Microsoft [in the antivirus space] and it'll put Trend Micro's and Symantec's lights out."

Microsoft's decision to acquire GeCAD makes perfect sense, Stenstrom said. GeCAD, founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1992, is a viable company with an established product, RAV AntiVirus, that's popular in Europe and Asia, he said. Plus, the software works with Linux and the Samba open-source utility, he added.

Antivirus vendors offered cautiously optimistic responses to the announcement. "While we still need to understand the full implications of this announcement, we applaud Microsoft's efforts to develop an operating system upon which antivirus vendors can build more effective protection," said Cupertino, Calif.-based Symantec in a statement.

Trend Micro, also based in Cupertino, said Microsoft's announcement, together with its formation last month of the Virus Information Alliance with third-party antivirus vendors including Trend Micro, illustrates Microsoft's commitment to security.

And executives at Sophos, Lynnfield, Mass., commended Microsoft's commitment to the antivirus market but noted that providing a viable antivirus solution requires a lot of resources and commitment.

Microsoft's move into the antivirus market doesn't mean the end of the line for antivirus vendors, said Pete Lindstrom, an analyst at Spire Security, Malvern, Pa. "The added value here [for third-party vendors] is to handle heterogeneous environments and provide better management capabilities," he said.