Is your Anti-Virus software a Leader or a Laggard?

Each year, The Gartner Group, Inc. an IT industry research leader, evaluates IT technology by segment and ranks the top performers in each market.  I thought you'd like to see how the major anti-virus/security vendors ranked in their latest 2013 evaluation. 

Below is what is referred to as the "Magic Quadrant" and the goal of each vendor is to be ranked in the upper right box of the chart (designated as the Leaders for that segment).  Is your A/V provider there? 


No one wants to be in either of the two bottom boxes and being ranked in the lower left box is a real slap in the face to any company listed there. 

What gets you into the Leaders box?  Providers have to show leading edge capabilities to deal with the constantly changing world of virus and malware detection and remediation.  They also have to be able to prove their ability to deliver on what they promise.  This is one of the most critical segments in the entire IT industry.

There are 5 companies listed in the Leaders Category.  Which one is best?  That's a little tricky because some of the companies address different segments of the IT market.  For example, Sophos is listed here but it specializes in large enterprise environments and may not be the best fit in smaller environments when compared with another Leader that plays in the smaller SMB market.

There are also subtle differences in the feature sets offered by each vendor listed.  For example, one vendor may really excel in list-based anti-virus detection but may not perform as well in Holistic malware detection which is the ability to detect previously un-recognized malware.  Since the flood of Zero Day malware (previously undetected malware) is one of the major concerns in the industry, we at ACT regard Holistic detection particularly high in our priorities of features importance in the SMB marketplace where we specialize. 

Suffice it to say that your goal should be to shoot for the Leaders in any IT category and then enlist the help of a professional experienced in dealing with sophisticated malware/virus threat remediation to pick the "best of the best" for your needs. 

If your vendor doesn't appear in the Gartner Magic Quandrant, take the hint.  If Gartner didn't list them, there was a reason. 

For more information on how products are evaluated by The Gratner Group check the following: http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/methodologies/research_mq.jsp

For assistance on selecting the most appropriate security and A/V solutions for your organization call us at ACT Network Solutions at (847) 639-7000 or e-mail us at security@act4networks.com.