Symantec.cloud, is a major provider of integrated messaging and web security

Content-control software

Content-control software, also known as censorware or web filtering software, is a term for software designed and optimized for controlling what content is permitted to a reader, especially when it is used to restrict material delivered over the Web...

 services (hosted security), with over 19,000 clients ranging from small business to the Fortune 500

Fortune 500

The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...

 located in more than 86 countries and the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Parliament

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

. MessageLabs provides a range of managed security services to protect, control, encrypt, and archive communications across Email

Email

Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...

, Web

World Wide Web

The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...

, and Instant Messaging

Instant messaging

Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...

 which was added through an acquisition of Omnipod in 2005. The company competes with similar services offered by Google

Google

Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...

, Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

, ScanSafe

ScanSafe

ScanSafe was a privately held company backed by investors Benchmark Capital and Scale Venture Partners, it was a provider of Web security-as-a-service for organizations. Co-founded in 1999 by brothers Eldar and Roy Tuvey, its services block malware and secure the use of the Web and messaging...

, Webroot, Websense

Websense

Websense is a San Diego-based company specializing in Web security gateway software. It enables clients to block access to chosen categories of websites.-History:Websense was founded by Phil Trubey in 1994...

, and McAfee

McAfee

McAfee, Inc. is a computer security company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA. It markets software and services to home users, businesses and the public sector. On August 19, 2010, electronics company Intel agreed to purchase McAfee for $7.68 billion...

.

The company maintains offices in 10 countries with regional headquarters in Gloucester

Gloucester

Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....

, New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, in total employing over 500 staff. MessageLabs has alliance partnerships

Strategic alliance

A Strategic Alliance is a relationship between two or more parties to pursue a set of agreed upon goals or to meet a critical business need while remaining independent organizations...

 with over 800 organizations including IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

, Verizon, BT Group

BT Group

BT Group plc is a global telecommunications services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the largest telecommunications services companies in the world and has operations in more than 170 countries. Through its BT Global Services division it is a major supplier of...

, Telstra

Telstra

Telstra Corporation Limited is an Australian telecommunications and media company, building and operating telecommunications networks and marketing voice, mobile, internet access and pay television products and services....

, Unisys

Unisys

Unisys Corporation , headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, United States, and incorporated in Delaware, is a long established business whose core products now involves computing and networking.-History:...

, CDW

CDW

CDW Corporation, headquartered in Vernon Hills, Illinois, is a reseller of computer hardware, software and supplies. Along with its warehouse-attached showroom in Illinois, CDW takes orders from its catalog via mail order, telephone and the Internet....

, and HP.

In 2006 MessageLabs ended a strategic partnership with ScanSafe

ScanSafe

ScanSafe was a privately held company backed by investors Benchmark Capital and Scale Venture Partners, it was a provider of Web security-as-a-service for organizations. Co-founded in 1999 by brothers Eldar and Roy Tuvey, its services block malware and secure the use of the Web and messaging...

, a competing security company, with the release of an in-house web security product titled Web Security Service Version 2. A resultant court judgment brought about by ScanSafe required MessageLabs notify all prospective clients that the Version 2 service is not based on ScanSafe technology.

In 2007 the company split from Star Technology Services, the original founder of MessageLabs.

On October 8, 2008 Symantec

Symantec

Symantec Corporation is the largest maker of security software for computers. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and is a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500 stock market index.-History:...

announced the acquisition of MessageLabs for a cash sum of £310 million plus US$154 million. The deal closed on November 14, 2008.
MessageLabs' products will be merged into the Symantec Protection Network.