Trend Micro is doing something innovative by giving home users a security system that can protect more than just your personal computer
Trend Micro is doing something innovative by giving home users a security system that can protect more than just your personal computer
It is a common adage among marketing people that in any field, if you are not the #1 or the #2 player, then it makes no sense in being #3. The logic behind this is that, typically, the top two players get most of the business, and all the other players get very little and are therefore either driven out of business, or get taken over by one of the big two.
But this is from the market angle. From the perspective of the user, the #1 company may be a complacent one, while #2 may be focused solely on becoming numero uno. Therefore, for innovation, #3 may be the best. This is similar to the quote by George Bernard Shaw: "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
We don't know if this is universally applicable, but it seems to work insofar as at least one innovation in the anti-virus market. This is a market where the top two players are Symantec and McAfee. Trend Micro is the #3 company in this space.
In a bid to grow the market during these recession times, Trend Micro has decided to take something that is usually available only in corporate settingsu2014namely, security at the router levelu2014and then take it to the home user.
Of course, this change will not happen all of a sudden. Right now, Trend Micro's new software for routers, called Home Network Defender, will only work with certain models from Cisco's Linksys division. While new routers will be sold with a 30-day trial subscription bundled with the service, older Linksys customers can download the trial software over the Web.
What are the advantages of such a move? There are several, namely:
>>Multiple protection: If an anti-virus resides solely on a PC, then only that particular PC gets protected. But putting the security on the router means that other devices connected to the router apart from the PC like game consoles can also be protected. Even if you don't have game consoles, many homes these days have more than one PC, and all this can be managed from one router without having to protect each PC separately.
>>Safe surfing: While all of us have problems with phising scams, parents in particular are worried about their children browsing porn sites.u00a0 While standalone security systems exist, the big advantage of the router approach according to Trend Micro is that, all of the security updates and reputation filtering are done in real time through the cloud.
>>Log that: All the data flowing through the router can be logged for perusal by parents or by administrators. While this is also possible without routers, Trend Micro's method, if properly implemented, is capable of giving better control.
While these benefits are provided to users, there is also another advantage to both the players involved, namely Cisco and Trend Micro. Typically, trial anti-virus software from top players like McAfee and Symantec are included on new PCs, but these PC makers usually include software from the highest bidder and since this can be expensive, Trend Micro has not always found it easy to compete with Symantec and McAfee. But the deal that Cisco has with Trend Micro may benefit both and create a new way of addressing security on the home front.
QUICK TAKE
>>Trend Micro and Cisco have announced router-based protection
>>This could prove to be better than PC-based anti-viruses
>>It also gives Trend Micro an effective way of competing with McAfee and Symantec
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