Ken Nagy, CFA
Commtouch (CTCH) Sees Traction From Command Asset Purchase
On January 11, 2011 Commtouch (CTCH) announced that during Q4 2010 it closed several new customer agreements for its Command Antivirus® solution, which was acquired in September 2010 from Authentium.
Following the acquisition, the Command development team invested additional resources in further enhancing the product’s capabilities. In the November benchmark tests performed by industry-leading AV-Test GmbH, Commtouch Command ranked 4th out of the 26 products tested, with a detection rate of 99.55%, compared to an average detection rate of 95.53%.
On July 27, 2010 Commtouch announced that it had signed a definitive Asset Purchase Agreement to acquire the assets, products, licenses, and operations of the Command antivirus division of Authentium, Inc., a Florida-based company.
Authentium was a privately held company based in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. In 2002, Authentium acquired Command Software, a security firm that was founded in 1984 and focused on anti-malware technology. Authentium also had another division, known as SafeCentral, which was not acquired by Commtouch.
Commtouch’s strategy is to increase its leadership in the Internet Security sphere. Antivirus provides a significant growth opportunity that is highly synergetic with the company’s business. Command Antivirus is a natural fit for Commtouch, employing a business model compatible with Commtouch’s – OEM to security vendors and direct to Service Providers.
The Command Antivirus offering provides detection using a highly scalable, multi-layered approach. This market-leading antivirus is a natural addition to Commtouch’s offering of broad email and Web security suites that provide customers with operational simplicity, reduced TCO and technical consolidation.
Command’s OEM customer base included companies such as Google, McAfee and Microsoft, among many others. Command also had over 1,000 customers of its CSAM (Command Anti-Malware) product. All of Command’s customers are now customers of Commtouch.
For a copy of the full research report, please email scr@zacks.com with Commtouch as the subject.
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