With rumors of a possible forthcoming antivirus acquisition, it comes as no surprise that the Mountain View search giant has jumped into the Internet security business feet first.
San Francisco — Google Inc. late Tuesday announced the acquisition of US Internet security startup GreenBorder Technologies Inc., which specializes in using "virtualization" to create safe zones for online activities.
GreenBorder, which is based in Mountain View, California, where Google has its headquarters, posted a message at its website that it was acquired by the king of Internet search.
Terms of the deal, which closed in mid-May, were not disclosed, according to Google spokesman Aaron Zamost.
GreenBorder, a venture-backed startup founded in 2001 and based in Mountain View, California, where Google is also headquartered, offers browser-based security software HIPs (host intrusion protection) tools for both businesses and consumers.
Google’s purchase of GreenBorder Technologies — a browser virtualization software company that creates a secure zone, called a sandbox, for online interaction with your existing Firefox or Internet Explorer browser.
The software sets up temporary, virtual sessions each time a computer users surfs the Web, then discards the resulting data once the user is finished surfing. Any type of activity and interaction, while you are on the Internet, it creates a “green border” around the edge of each Web page a user visits to assure the users that they are protected from viruses and other malicious code — hence the name.
The software allows technicians to insulate corporate networks so that malicious code hidden inside e-mail, instant messages or Web sites is automatically detected and contained.
Gartner analyst Neil MacDonald has said GreenBorder’s "virtualization" technology competes with software offerings from Microsoft Corp. and EMC Corp.’s VMware, as well as various rival startups.
Virtualization, one of the hottest trends in software, refers to techniques that separate physical computer hardware from the software used to run the machine.
Unlike virtualization software from rivals requiring multiple Windows licenses for each corporate user, GreenBorder insulates the Microsoft Windows system from the underlying computer hardware and only requires a single license for Windows, MacDonald said.
This is pretty straightforward, it is primarily a talent acquisition for us; they have a small team of engineers that we were really impressed with, said Aaron Zamost, a corporate communications representative with Google. "The idea is that these guys have great expertise in the security domain that can provide obvious benefits to Google, its users, and its advertisers."
Last year Microsoft announced its own security suite, Microsoft Windows Live Onecare, and proceeded to capture a lion’s share of sales in the Internet security suite space.
Zamost declined to comment on how Google plans to incorporate GreenBorder’s security tools into its own products, which have branched far beyond search into Web-based productivity applications that compete with Microsoft’s ubiquitous Office products. The Google Apps Premier Edition, launched in Feb. 2007, offers businesses e-mail, calendar, instant messaging, and word processing capabilities.
Unlike Microsoft, Google’s drive is more focused. Where Microsoft is providing tools to defragment your hard drive and backup files in addition to their firewall and antivirus choices, Google appears to be protecting their main asset: online businesses.
As with other companies previously acquired by Google, GreenBorder has halted downloads of its software. However, the firm said on its site that existing users will maintain uninterrupted access to its products with its support team is still available during the transition.
The company said it will continue to support existing customers through the end of their current subscriptions to its software.
Google has made a series of recent moves to boost its profile in regards to improving security for its customers, launching an official blog on the topic in May and issuing a research paper at the HotBots 2007 conference in Boston in April. According to the HotBots report, roughly one in 10 Web sites that Google can find with its powerful Internet crawling technologies carries some form of malware.
In a paper, "The Ghost in the Browser" (in PDF), Google’s anti-malware researchers looked at several billion Web sites. They studied a subgroup of 12 million web sites, within which they found 1 million engaging in drive-by downloads of malicious code.
"GreenBorder’s proactive, always-on protection against malicious code is fundamentally more effective than reactive, detection-based approaches," Drew Hoffman, president and CEO of GreenBorder told InfoWorld at the time of Professional Edition’s 2005 introduction.
"With the ever-changing, unpredictable nature of Internet-based threats, organizations are realizing that the race to plug holes in defenses can never be won," Hoffman said.
By purchasing software technology that protects the end-user from malicious code, Google is ensuring that most people enjoy an event-free experience while surfing the Internet.
Google representatives would not provide further details about the deal itself or a timeframe for the GreenBorder acquisition to be closed within.