Microsoft To Buy Antivirus Technology

With the acquisition, Microsoft plans to develop new antivirus solutions, use GeCAD's technology to boost security of the Windows platform, and extend support for third-party antivirus products, the company said.

Terms of the deal were not released. Microsoft did not provide details about its antivirus product plans or a time line for when they might be released.

The acquisition comes as no surprise, said Pete Lindstrom, research director at Spire Security, a market-research firm. Rumors have been going around for some time that Microsoft wanted to buy an antivirus company, he said.

"This is a feather in the cap for Microsoft and its Trustworthy Computing initiative," Lindstrom said.

Microsoft gains a subscription-based model and can add functions such as software patches along with providing virus signatures, he said. However, Microsoft's ability to provide antivirus protection does not mean the end of the line for the antivirus software industry, he said.

"Does this mean that Symantec and Network Associates are done for? The answer is no," Lindstrom said. "Everyone's always looking for added value in third-party products. The added value here is to handle heterogeneous environments and to provide better management capabilities."

Microsoft said it will work to "help increase today's limited percentage of customers that are protected with updated antivirus signatures" and also to develop new solutions for evolving threats.

Founded in 1992, GeCAD provides antivirus protection under the name RAV AntiVirus. A virus scanning test by the University of Hamburg Computer Science Department in April ranked RAV seventh in a field of eight antivirus products that support Windows XP.