AVG 2011 – Available September 29 - Rush to Release – Part III

According to a comment on an executive blog on the AVG Technologies web site, the next release of AVG’s product line should occur be around the end of September. This would be version 10.0 (AVG 2011, AVG Internet Security 10.0?). AVG’s last major release was version 9.0. This release occurred over a period of several weeks beginning in late September 2009. This release may occur before AVG Technologies completes their Initial Public Offering (IPO).

September 28 addendum - AVG 2011 should be available September 29.

According to the blog, which focused on AVG Threat Labs (currently in beta) offering, “We expect to launch the full consumer version of AVG’s Threat Labs in late September coinciding with our launch of AVG 2011.”
http://jrsmith.blog.avg.com/2010/09/avg-threat-labs-an-exciting-new-threat-informational-portal.html

There are some YouTube video reviews of AVG 2011. For those interested, the following link contains a fairly long list of under the hood improvements to AVG 2011. http://www.mostiwant.com/blog/avg-internet-security-2011-beta/

2011 Internet Security Solutions Released

• BitDefender Total Security 2011 was released around August 16. For product details - http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/total-security.
• Kaspersky - Kaspersky announced Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 on August 16 For product details -http://usa.kaspersky.com/products_services/compare/
• Panda Security – Panda Internet Security Suite 2011 was announced on July 27. For product details - http://www.pandasecurity.com/usa/homeusers/solutions/
• Webroot - Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 was announced on July 26. For product details http://www.webroot.com/En_US/consumer-compare.html

2011 Internet Security Solutions That Haven’t Been Released

• Trend Micro – should be releasing their next generation of Internet Security solutions before the middle of September.
• Symantec – No official release date has been announced for Norton Internet Security 2011.
• McAfee – No official release date has been announced for the next release of McAfee Total Protection.
• Avast – No official release date has been announced.
• Avira – No official release data has been announced.

AVG Threat Labs – Currently in Beta

According to the executive blog, “Threat Labs combines (this) data with consumer comments in a simple, easy-to-use website that explains clearly if a site that you wish to visit, or own, is safe or not and what people are saying about it."

AVG Threat Labs offers the same real time analysis as AVG’s LinkScanner®. It allows someone to enter a URL and find out whether or not that site is safe to visit. The individual can also view a brief 30 day site report on that particular website. http://www.avgthreatlabs.com/sitereports/. AVG Threat Labs should be out of beta near the end of September.

This ability to check a website without having LinkScanner installed is similar to what McAfee has been offering on their SiteAdvisor site for several years. Visitors enter a URL. They are then informed whether or not the site is safe to visit or contains some kind of dangerous malware. They can also view a report on the URL they have entered. http://www.siteadvisor.com/.

AVG Technologies’ Initial Public Offering (IPO)

There is no official date as to when AVG Technologies will have their initial public offering on the London (UK) exchange. For more information, go to "AVG Technologies Prepares To Go Public" http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/07/avg-technologies-prepares-to-go-public.html

The August 13 issue of the IFR European ECM Briefing doesn't provide a lot additional detail about the upcoming IPO. AVG Technologies is mentioned as being in the Q3/Q4 pipeline with an estimated value of US $300m-400m. http://www.ifrbriefings.com/examples/euro_ecm.pdf This came out before Intel's offer to acquire McAfee.

The market for security companies appears to be hot. McAfee accepted an offer to be acquired by Intel for a premium of 60% over the previous day’s closing price on August 18. http://newsroom.mcafee.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=3678.

Arcsight put the company up for sale on August 26 and the stock price immediately increased around $7 per share. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67P4X720100826

In August, growth equity investor Summit Partners invested $100 million for a minority stake in Avast Software http://www.avast.com/pr-growth-equity-investor-summit-partners-invests-100-million-in-avast-software. Avast and AVG Technologies both have a total installed base of over 110 (130?) million seats. Avast typically comes in a relatively close second to AVG Technologies on the CNET download site for free antivirus software. Avir typically comes in third.

Look for Norton Internet Security 2011 to be released sometime during September.