What does AVG stand for anyway?
Grisoft, the company behind one of the better known brands of security software – AVG – has done the sensible thing and officially changed its name to AVG Technologies. Although what tiny repercussions there may have been from this move will be denied the UK as we were already calling it AVG, apparently.
Hardly anyone, except long-suffering tech journalists, ever referred to the company as Grisoft, a name presumably derived from its Czech founder Jan Gritzbach. Instead it was understandably known by the name of its only product. So they’ve decided to make it official. Much neater and tidier, I think we all agree.
“The change in name is primarily intended to enhance awareness of the AVG brand in the world”, said J.R. Smith, Chief Executive Officer of AVG Technologies. “By aligning our corporate identity with our brand identity, we expect to significantly increase the effectiveness of our marketing activities and other communications.”
AVG’s business model centres on making a functional version of the product available for free, with all-the-bells-and-whistles versions available at a price. Grisoft, sorry AVG, is 65 per cent owned by a partnership of Intel and central European private equity group Enterprise Investors, who acquired their stake in September 2005 for $52 million.
AVG stands for Anti-virus guard it seems – their first product.
