Could you please tell me if technically you can have security hardware based? Apple now competes with Intel, even in hardware. Would it make sense for Intel to have a "more secure" processors?
Intel to buy McAfee for $7.7 Billion
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Re: Intel to buy McAfee for $7.7 Billion
#12Why would they do this? It seemed obvious to me than in 5-10 years Antivirus software would be obsolete and unnecessary. I hear people every day recommending Windows 7 users get Microsoft Security Essentials and nothing else. And personally I run Ubuntu, so I haven't thought about antivirus software in years... This seems like a very odd decision to me. Intel, a world leader in processor design, does not need to get…
McAfee do more than just desktop antivirus: for example, they have mobile, virtualisation and network security products. see products by category here: http://www.mcafee.com/uk/enterprise/index.html Intel has a large interest in mobile, virtualisation and network arenas; this isn't really as surprising as you make out.
McAfee also has strong UI programming expertise that Intel sorely needed. Intel's IPP and MKL libraries are absolutely great, but VTune looks like it is fresh out of 2002. They get access to several stable revenue streams (like antivirus), and can cherry-pick talent to work on whatever projects they want. There aren't many downsides for Intel.
Re: Intel to buy McAfee for $7.7 Billion
#13Maybe Intel hopes to extend their 'Intel Inside' campaign to include anti-virus protection?
Re: Intel to buy McAfee for $7.7 Billion
#14Can anyone tell me why? It seems like a poor fit.
AV eats CPU cycles, Intel sells CPU cycles. That do ?
Re: Intel to buy McAfee for $7.7 Billion
#15Could you please tell me if technically you can have security hardware based? Apple now competes with Intel, even in hardware. Would it make sense for Intel to have a "more secure" processors?
there's already a lot of hardware-based "security" out there. for example:
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_Platform_Module
* http://www.intel.com/technology/anti-theft/
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NX_bit
and so on, of which Intel is currently involved with lots.
Security is what a desktop processor spends a lot of it's time doing: making sure programs are isolated from one another and the kernel whilst still executing code.
Re: Intel to buy McAfee for $7.7 Billion
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
My guess is that they will be able to use their existing OEM relationships to push for McAfee to be installed by default (and paid for, not just a trial) on more and more computers. McAfee also seems to be moving into different areas of computer security lately (PCI scans, etc), so it's not just anti-virus. I am not sure what % of their business this is though.
I thought unwanted default installs are the only way McAfee ends up on computers anyway.
If that's what it's called when network admins put on their default build images, then yes.
Re: Intel to buy McAfee for $7.7 Billion
#17Re: Intel to buy McAfee for $7.7 Billion
#18Could you please tell me if technically you can have security hardware based? Apple now competes with Intel, even in hardware. Would it make sense for Intel to have a "more secure" processors?
there's already a lot of hardware-based "security" out there. for example: * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_Platform_Module * http://www.intel.com/technology/anti-theft/ * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NX_bit and so on, of which Intel is currently involved with lots. Security is what a desktop processor spends a lot of it's time doing: making sure programs are isolated from one another and the kernel whilst stil…
vPro as well, which I strongly suspect is what this is about.
Intel want to put AV underneath the operating system (ie. under Windows), using their virtualization technology to make it invisible to the OS. This was one of the ideas behind their "failed" vPro project[1].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_vPro#Security_and_Intel_v...
[1] Yes, I know vPro didn't "fail", but parts of it did, including an earlier attempt to shovel AV under the OS.
Re: Intel to buy McAfee for $7.7 Billion
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
McAfee do more than just desktop antivirus: for example, they have mobile, virtualisation and network security products. see products by category here: http://www.mcafee.com/uk/enterprise/index.html Intel has a large interest in mobile, virtualisation and network arenas; this isn't really as surprising as you make out.
McAfee also has strong UI programming expertise that Intel sorely needed. Intel's IPP and MKL libraries are absolutely great, but VTune looks like it is fresh out of 2002. They get access to several stable revenue streams (like antivirus), and can cherry-pick talent to work on whatever projects they want. There aren't many downsides for Intel.
We're talking about $7.7 billion. I'm not sure it's quite as rosy a picture as you paint. I'm not that familiar with McAfee's annual profits, but even if they make $500 million a year, we can value the talent they cherry-pick at an absurdly high value of $1 billion, and it would still take Intel well over 10 years to recoup the investment, assuming stable revenue streams.
Re: Intel to buy McAfee for $7.7 Billion
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
McAfee do more than just desktop antivirus: for example, they have mobile, virtualisation and network security products. see products by category here: http://www.mcafee.com/uk/enterprise/index.html Intel has a large interest in mobile, virtualisation and network arenas; this isn't really as surprising as you make out.
McAfee also has strong UI programming expertise that Intel sorely needed. Intel's IPP and MKL libraries are absolutely great, but VTune looks like it is fresh out of 2002. They get access to several stable revenue streams (like antivirus), and can cherry-pick talent to work on whatever projects they want. There aren't many downsides for Intel.
$7.7Bn is a lot of UI programming expertise... As in, how many salary/years is that at market rates?