Intel explains why they bought McAfee

CNET published an interview with Renee J. James, senior vice president and chief manager of the software and services group at Intel, which discussed McAfee's acquisition of Intel. At Intel, René is responsible for delivering and supporting software products across distribution lines. In addition, she is responsible for the worldwide Intel developer program, as well as the next-generation software development R&D division. James is also chairman of two Intel subsidiaries: Wind River Systems and Havoc.

Q (CNET correspondent): What do you see as McAfee's strengths?
About (Rene James): McAfee's strength is their fantastic team of R&D and engineers, as well as their security research. Over the past few years, they have expanded with several important acquisitions. In the future, their main technology will be well positioned for mobile devices, in cloud-based security systems, where there is now a need for such technologies. They are not a market leader in software antivirus software. And although this is an important area, they have other assets that are also important. They are a full-fledged security company. And this is another thing that we liked. In addition, they showed steady growth quarter after quarter, year after year.

Q: How does this fit into Intel's strategy?
A: Security is one of the key technologies that Intel invests in, along with technologies in the areas of energy efficiency, performance, or networking. Security technologies are applicable in our products in data centers, laptops, desktop computers, and any Atom-devices - televisions, phones or tablets. Safety is often one of the most important criteria for purchase and interest. Thus, it is distributed throughout the product line.

Q: And Intel chips and McAfee technologies, how do they fit together?
A: Security can be enhanced with hardware. You can have a software solution, but make it much more reliable when combined with hardware. The possibility of combining technology was one of the motives for this acquisition. We can even add extensions to our crystals that provide end users with more protection. There are a number of tasks where the hardware could help the software in preventing attacks, recovering from attacks, or providing additional protection against certain types of attacks. We are thinking about these things now. Currently, McAfee continues to market its software products for various platforms. But she will have the opportunity to increase the security of her products due to the advantages of our chips. It may take several years.

(Editor’s Note: It turns out that in the future, McAfee software will appear that allows you to use the technologies built into Intel chips to increase security.)

Q: Do you already have any joint developments with McAffe that you worked on before the announcement of the acquisition of the company ?
A: What happens arises from our partnership, our joint work, the use of existing technologies, such as VT (virtualization technology), AMT (active management technology), features that have been in the products for many years. And all this was accompanied by negotiations and joint prototyping. We planned to enter the market with an expanded line of products and services. We thought about it and that it could be very interesting for us. The only question was, how can we make money from it? Intel platforms will become much better, consumers will be satisfied. But how will our shareholders be able to return the invested money? It was these thoughts that led us to introduce the possibility of acquisition.

Q: What else can Intel learn from this deal?
A: Today we have some hardware-based security features implemented in silicon that allow companies like McAfee to offer anti-theft technology. That is, if you turn off the stolen computer, then the next time you connect to the network it will be blocked. And we had several partner companies to implement this solution. But we ourselves do not have security software today. And I don’t think that we could catch up with a company like McAfee, which has experience, a huge knowledge base and portfolios of implemented IT projects.

Based on materials: CNET