GeCAD’s Antivirus Technology to be Acquired by Microsoft
Major Recognition of the Romanian I.T. talent
Bucharest, June 10, 2003 – GeCAD Software has announced a definitive agreement with Microsoft Corp., of Redmond, Wash., USA, by which Microsoft will acquire GeCAD’s antivirus technology. Microsoft has stated its intention to integrate GeCAD’s technology into products and services that will help secure customers.
“The opportunity to integrate GeCAD technology into Microsoft’s future antivirus efforts is a big step not only for us but for the entire Romanian I.T. industry,” said Radu Georgescu, President of GeCAD. “Microsoft’s choice of a Romanian technology attests to the tremendous software development potential in this country.”
Bucharest based GeCAD is a leading technology company specialised in providing antivirus solutions for all categories of users. Since the creation of the company by entrepreneur Radu Georgescu in 1992 and launch of its first antivirus programme in 1994, GeCAD has grown to an international recognized software company with distributors in more than 60 countries. The company markets its products under the brand “RAV AntiVirus” which protects more than 10 million users worldwide. Many international awards and certifications, which include “VB 100%’, “Checkmark’ and “ICSA’, underscore the company’s success as an antivirus solutions provider.
More recently, GeCAD was awarded two special citations at the I.T. Awards ceremony in 2002 for the “Best Romanian Software’ and the “Most Innovative Software Company’.
The GeCAD products feature the unique “platform independent’ antivirus scanning engine that revolutionized the antivirus market. It detects and removes viruses while acting also as signature database for all the modules and programs under any platform or operating system.
“The acquisition of GeCAD’s technology will help secure customers by helping us deliver antivirus solutions for Microsoft products and services,” said Mike Nash, corporate vice president of the Security Business Unit at Microsoft. “The significant expertise represented by GeCAD, along with partner antivirus software and our own platform investments, will help us mitigate the threats our customer face from those who write malicious code.”
Commenting on this achievement, H.E President Ion Iliescu of Romania said -“I am a great believer in the tremendous I.T. and software development potential of our people and of our country, I am proud of GeCAD’s success and look forward to other Romanian companies following this example.”
Highlighting the importance of this acquisition from the perspective of further strengthening relations between American companies and Romania, H.E. Michael Guest, U.S. Ambassador to Romania said – “I’m delighted at this important acquisition by a first-class American company of a new technology produced here in Romania. This new step highlights even more Romania’s clear potential in information technology — an area in which Romanian students, researchers and entrepreneurs excel. I hope this will be the first of many more partnerships between U.S. and Romanian companies in this and other fields, aimed at broadening and deepening our bilateral trade and investment relationship.”
GeCAD will continue to expand its services and security business and develop new non antivirus related technologies and software solutions.
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About GeCAD Software:
Privately held GeCAD Software, founded in 1992, has been providing antivirus and security solutions since 1994 under the name RAV AntiVirus. Based in Bucharest, Romania, GeCAD employs approximately 100 professionals and provides antivirus solutions for a range of platforms and functions., The main operations of GeCAD Software are:
Consultancy, distribution and licensing of software and hardware products – Complete IT solutions, development and implementation of custom designed programs, and national distribution of branded software.
Infrastructure IT Solutions – Security audit, integrated IT solutions, turnkey projects, communications, and data transmitios.
IT Security Services – integrated solutions for data security, IT security audit , consultancy and specialized technical services.