On September 2, industry observers said that NHN completed the development of its free anti-virus program PC Green, which can not only protect PCs from viruses, worms, and system hacking, but can also scan, delete and quarantine spyware. It will start closed beta service from the middle of this month and has already begun to recruit 1000 beta testers.
So far, portal service providers have provided similar free anti-virus program which can only be installed as a part of their toolbar programs. However, PC Green includes free real-time monitoring service, which has been usually provided as paid service by online security companies.
An official of NHN said: "PC Green's real-time monitoring service and PC optimization service will help users to maintain the safety and stability of their PCs. Whether providing PC green free or part of its service free are not decided yet."
However, in its homepage to recruit beta testers, NHN noted that PC Green is a 100% free anti-virus program, giving a hint that even the real-time monitoring service could be given free.
After the closed beta service, NHN plans to start an open beta service on October.
NHN's making inroads into the online security market is in line with the service expansion of global Internet service providers to web-based application services like office, widgets, and online security. They provide web-based service in order to increase the royalty of their users so that they can protect their users from competitors which have more users. Also, as global companies, they need to be prepared for the upcoming trend of Web 2.0, in which all services like office programs are provided on the Web.
NHN already made clear that it will provide web-based office service in cooperation with Haansoft's ThinkFree. Also, it developed fonts and provided them free. Meanwhile, Google provides a web-based office program originated from Sun Microsystems' office software, StarOffice.
The problem is that NHN will provide this service at no charge. With its 14 million visitors per day, NHN has the biggest market share in the portal industry. Therefore, its free service can devastate the whole anti-virus and spyware industry.
Major portals like NHN, Daum, Empas, and Yahoo have so far provided free malicious code detecting service. However, NHN's new service will include real-time monitoring service, which has been paid service of the online security companies. The online security industry worries NHN's free service could make a 20 billion won (US$21.3 million) market disappear. Therefore, the industry plans to bring an unfair competition claim to the government.
A senior official of an anti-virus company said: "NHN should bear in mind that its free service for customers can break down the whole online security market. It should come up with the ways to cooperate with the existing online security companies."
