MessageLabs

By CIO New Zealand staff | Monday, January 11 2010

MessageLabs has branched off into services such as scanning instant messages for security threats and filtering web traffic.

Global HQ: Cupertino, California
Website: www.messagelabs.com
Global leader: Enrique Salem, president and CEO, Symantec
Local leader: Bernard Kwok, senior VP, Asia-Pacific and Japan
Core activity: Integrated messaging and web security services, including anti-virus, anti-spam, web filtering and email archiving
Revenue: US$145 million (FY07-08 ended July 31)
Key customers: Simpson Grierson, Westpac, McDonalds, QBE Insurance Group, Visy, ISS Facility Services
Employees: 500

Founded in Britain and now part of US security solutions giant Symantec, MessageLabs is best known for its hosted service that scrubs clients’ email of spam and malicious software. Symantec acquired MessageLabs for $US695 million in cash in November last year, gaining it a leadership position in the software as a service (SaaS) market.

MessageLabs has branched off into services such as scanning instant messages for security threats and filtering web traffic.

The company has been instrumental in turning more enterprise customers on to SaaS, a practice gaining strong traction in the US, Europe and Australia.

The financial crisis and subsequent staff lay-offs hit MessageLabs’ business as its subscription rate is charged per user, but it has been able to maintain its average revenue per user by up selling new services. Zafar Anjum