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New e-mail filter rival for Baltimore
Monday, December 04 2000
by Paul Drury


UK-based SurfControl has bought an Australian firm which makes an e-mail filter
similar to that made by Baltimore's recent acquisition, Content Technologies.



SurfControl's purchase includes EmU Tech, Australia's leading supplier of e-mail
filters, and its Sydney-based primary sales partner, Lanvision. It paid a total
of USD5.35 million, of which USD1.03 million was in cash and the balance in
shares.



The purchase, coming only weeks after Baltimore's takeover of Content
Technologies, highlights a growing level of investment in companies which produce
sweeping tools, both for surfing and for e-mail. Sales of filters, both for home
and business use, are expected to total USD4 billion over the next four years.



SurfControl specialises in filters which prevent either children at home or
office workers in a corporate enviroment from accessing porn sites or other
unsuitable material and has built up a worldwide market for its products.



Both EmU Tech and Baltimore's new subsidiary sell products which filter porn and
other unwanted material out of e-mail. SurfControl said the EmU Tech product
range fitted naturally into its existing product range.  



In October, Baltimore Technologies paid STG414 million for US-based Content
Technologies, funding the deal in part by floating 40 million new shares. It said
at the time that the STG66 million it raised would also fund future
acquisitions.



Irish security services company Entropy is the primary distributor in Ireland for
for Pornsweeper, the Content Technologies anti-porn product. The programme can
actually scan attachments to detect whether there is a high degree of skin
pigmentation.