Expectations of recovery in the IT sector would bring rapid growth on the domestic market.
Three-party battle of AhnLab, HAURI, and TrendMicro is expected on the anti-virus market.


The security industry is witnessing a fierce marketing battle among local and foreign security companies as the first anniversary of the 1/25 Internet Chaos in 2003 nears and the issue of information security is gaining focused global attention.

The Korean IT sector is expected to recover this year from its long recession, which would cause even more struggle among companies in Korea's security solutions market.

As for the anti-virus sector, there is a three-party competition among the two local players, AhnLab and HAURI, and the biggest foreign player, TrendMicro, which will gain more heat as the focus shifts to the industrial product market.

AhnLab is planning to release new anti-virus products for servers in the 1Q, with the goal of capturing a 60% market share in the server vaccine market this year. It will also seek to stabilize the sales of gateway security solutions and security hole analysis services.

AhnLab is also planning to expand their field to the growing market of integrated security management solutions, with the development of anti-virus solutions for file servers and MS Exchange servers. They plan to win back their competitors' customers by providing outstanding services like agent education and enhanced incentives.

HAURI will introduce ViRobot Management, an anti-virus management console, which is a new integrated solution that can be linked to network appliances. A discount promotion for small and medium businesses is also being planned.

TrendMicro is developing a new solution which can automatically determine if each PC on the company network has an anti-virus program installed on it, and take proper action at the point of connection, aiming directly at the desktop PC anti-virus market.

The company is also planning to release products that are geared towards NetScreen and Cisco, in 1Q and the latter half of this year respectively.

The communications and financial security sector has become the hottest area in the global network security market competition.

Encouraged by their over 30% growth last year, Network Associates Korea is seeking to establish its position in Korea with McAfee integrated security solutions, and will present a new solution that can completely block worm infections.

Communication service providers like KT and Hanaro, and the Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) market will be the main target of the company, which is sure to bring up more heated competition with local players like WINS Technet.

Firewall developer SecureSoft will also make its grand entry into the IPS market this April with a new active security product.

In addition, the security market will see more competitors coming from the switch and router sectors: Radware Korea and 3com Korea.

At the end of last year Radware released DefensePro, an IPS device based on a switch, in an attempt to enter the Korean security market. Radware's vaunted DefensePro boasts high integrity operation at extremely fast speed.

Mr. Choi Ho-won, the CEO of 3com Korea, says, "the relationship between the device manufacturers and the security solution developers has changed from cooperation to outright competition." "3com and its partners will develop independent security devices that can be directly installed to eliminate network security holes." he added.