McAfee patent on security services subscription

[Subcommander Bob]

http://wired.com/news/business/0,1367,45897,00.html

            McAfee.com has won a patent for its system of delivering
security-related software and
            services over the Internet, giving it a potential leg up in
the emerging trend of
            subscription-based software.

            The patent, issued July 24 by the U.S. Patent Office, covers
the technology behind
            McAfee's system, what co-inventor Srivats Sampath calls the
company's "secret sauce," as
            well as its subscription-based business model, the company
said Monday. McAfee applied for
            the patent in 1998.

                         "The future of software is really going to be
delivered as Web services and
                         we have a component of that," said Sampath,
McAfee's president and chief
                         executive officer. "The patent is a way to
protect our investment."

                         "This doesn't close the door for competitors,
it simply sets some boundaries
                         for them," said Harry Fenik, chief executive
officer of the Sageza Group, a
                         market research firm.

                         Now, any company or so-called application
service provider looking to offer
                         subscription- and Web-based software
specifically in the security and
                         PC-management arena "will have to tread
carefully" to not infringe on
                         McAfee's patent, or decide to pay McAfee
licensing fees, Fenik said.