IMlogic has never been a build-to-flip company. Dating back to 2002, it has managed to secure important customers, Fortune 1000 companies as a matter of fact, and acts as a prefered choice for many of them. And given that enterprise IM is exploding, and so it home use, the real-time nature of this type of communication has always been acting as a hit-list in my mind. Client based vulnerabilities, social engineering attacks, auto-responding malware, and many other issues are among the current trends. How huge is the potential of IM security, or is it me just trying to think big in here, compared to Symantec's simple product line extension ambition?
Besides acting as another propagation vector for future malware releases, IM usege worldwide is already outpacing the most common form of Internet communication -- the email. A Radicati Group's research report entitled "Instant Messaging and Presence Market Trends, 2003-2007" indicates the same. The group predicts that :
- 1,439 million IM accounts in existence by 2007- a very significant increase in corporate imlpementation of IM, from 60 million accounts today to 349 million in 2007.
- that's a degree of monopoly, as always!
Lucky you, Symantec!
With fear of being a pessimist, I have though witnessed how unique organizations and teams got eventually swallowed by the corporate world. And it's their know-how that I truly miss these days. You can though, still go through Symantec's constantly updating list of acquired companies, and it's evident they are fully committed to continue being a market and knowledge leader. I also recommend you read a great aricle at eWeek entitled IM Threats : The Dark Side of Innovation to find out more about the current trends. What's your attitude about them?!
Technorati tags :
Symantec, IM, security, information security
