AVAST Software, developer of the world’s most popular antivirus program, is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

Today’s AVAST Software was established as a partnership in April of 1991. Three of the initial AVAST crew are still active in the company: co-founders Eduard Kucera and Pavel Baudis together with Vladimir Cernik as the first employee.

“It began with just five or six people. In addition to antivirus programs, we worked on a number of computer tools for supporting Czech language, backup systems,” said Pavel Baudis. “One of our early successful products was SUP – that’s Czech for vulture – a management system for overseeing computers in a large environment used by organizations such as the Czech Post Office and the Prague Metro.”

The company soon focused on one product with the code name of ‘Anti-virus – Advanced Set‘. “The name was shortened to ‘avast’ and from 1995, we have worked only on antivirus products,” remarked Mr. Baudis. In 2010, the company changed its name to AVAST Software from the previous ALWIL Software.

“We started out in one room, up on the fifth floor just under the roof,” said Vladimir Cernik, co-head of the avast! Virus Lab. “This was a long time ago, but at early trade shows, we even went dressed as doctors and soldiers. There are some interesting photos of this.”

From this small group of dedicated people, AVAST Software has grown to where it now protects over 150 million computer users around the globe with its avast! antivirus program. “From the beginning, AVAST has been a place for people that want to make a difference,” said Eduard Kucera, co-founder and chairman of the AVAST Software board of directors.

“It is hard to imagine that a little local firm that officially started 20 years ago – and unofficially over 23 years ago – is now the World’s most popular consumer antivirus,” said Vince Steckler, CEO of AVAST Software. “This is due to the dedicated efforts of many people—our founders, long-term employees, newer staff, and to our supporters around the globe.”

Source:http://www.iewy.com/24396-avast-software-twenty-years-in-pursuit-of-malware.html

According to the IT security vendor, which offers both free and pay-for software, whilst 80% of its new users arrive at its download site as a result of recommendations, the expansion of ‘interest’ in the multi-user commercial site licence for Avast Pro Antivirus surprised its top management.

Today, Avast says that the licence has been used in over 200 countries ranging from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe and even to two users in the Vatican City. “Phenomenal growth yes, but except for the original 14 users, all of the others are pirates”, says the company.

Vince Steckler, Avast’s CEO, said he made a decision to see just how viral this one license for Avast Pro could be. “The answer is ‘very’ and now we are in the process of converting these pirates over to legal products”, he noted.

So how did the pay-for software spread so quickly?

According to Steckler, the spread was triggered by warez sites, which spread pirated commercial software very quickly, with the package was apparently available for download at multiple sites.

“There is a paradox in computer users looking for ‘free’ anti-virus programs at locations with a known reputation for spreading malware”, he said, adding that downloading at warez sites is not risk-free, as the firm’s virus lab has documented examples of warez sites distributing packages of a ‘cracked’ anti-virus program combined with malware.

Because of the size of the pirate empire that Avast seems to have amassed, the company has analysed its global coverage, and found that Russia has the largest number of pirate licences at 9%, whilst the lowest number – nil – were found at the North Pole.

The pirate users have now been sent a pop-up notice that they had a pirated licence and that they would be cut off from virus database updates.

They have, says the company, also been given the option of converting to the Free Antivirus version or a copy of Pro Antivirus.

Source:http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/view/14491/avast-analysis-spots-770000plus-alleged-software-pirates/

Summit Partners has invested $100m growth capital for a minority stake in Czech software vendor AVAST Software.

The latest round of funding will help AVAST to continue to follow its strategy of providing free antivirus solutions.

Company
AVAST is a Czech Republic-based firm that develops antivirus programmes. The software is estimated to protect about 100 million computers globally, primarily from malware.

The avast! software was first developed by the company’s co-founders Eduard Kucera and Pavel Baudis, who wrote a programme to remove the Vienna virus in 1988. The duo then moved on to launch avast! as a free antivirus in 2000. Currently, the company employs 90 people.

People
Scott Collins led the deal for Summit. Vince Steckler is CEO of AVAST.

Source:http://www.moviematics.com/2010/08/27/review-of-pc-tv-over-the-internet-softwares-%E2%80%93opt-a-quality-software-today/5607/

AVAST Software, developers of the world’s most popular antivirus program, today announced that growth equity investor Summit Partners has invested $100 million for a minority stake in the company.

“Summit Partners’ investment is a vote of confidence in our disruptive ‘freemium’ business model, which combines a full-fledged free product with a premium one,” said Vince Steckler, CEO of AVAST Software. “This approach is already upsetting the traditional antivirus market. Instead of paying for advertising or installation on new computers, AVAST continues to experience dramatic growth as fans of avast! recommend our products to their friends. Word-of-mouth from our large and loyal, satisfied customer base is certainly the most effective — and low-cost — form of advertising.”

avast! antivirus now protects one out of every five computers around the world from malware. Its award-winning protection is based on the CommunityIQ system of user-submitted data on suspected viruses and infected websites. Independent testing confirms that avast! Free Antivirus protection meets or exceeds the performance of most paid products.

“‘Freemium’ is the wave of the future,” added Mr. Steckler. “Together with Summit Partners, we will continue our strategy of providing a quality, free antivirus solution to the widest possible audience. We have no plans to change our approach and conform to the classic retail positioning model.”

The cofounders of AVAST Software, Eduard Kucera and Pavel Baudis, have seen the number of virus threats and the scope of their business grow dramatically in the past two decades. “After writing a program to remove the Vienna virus back in 1988, it was about six months before I saw another virus. Now our Virus Lab adds 3,000 new virus samples a day to its database,” said Mr. Baudis, AVAST Software virus guru.

“When we first launched free distribution of avast! antivirus in the early 2000s, we gave ourselves room to grow — but never dreamed that the product would gain such global popularity,” said Mr. Kucera, Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Scott Collins, a Managing Director of Summit Partners who will join the AVAST Software Board of Directors, said, “Under the direction of its CEO Vince Steckler, and its cofounders, Pavel Baudis and Eduard Kucera, AVAST Software has carved a unique position in the global marketplace for security software. We are pleased to invest in AVAST and look forward to working closely with Vince and the entire management team to support the company’s continued growth.”

Han Sikkens, a Principal in Summit Partners’ London office, added, “For 26 years, Summit Partners has been investing in profitable, innovative leaders in the security software industry, and it is rare to find a company such as AVAST that redefines how an industry does business. We are very excited about the growth prospects of this exceptional company.”

Source:http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Growth-Equity-Investor-Summit-Partners-Invests-100-Million-in-AVAST-Software-1307925.htm