Founded in 2002 by Joseph P. Marino and Jonathan Fortin, Spam Cube, Inc is a high-tech startup company

Startup company

A startup company or startup is a company with a limited operating history. These companies, generally newly created, are in a phase of development and research for markets...

 based in midtown area of New York City. The company designs and manufactures the Spam Cube, a SaaS

Saas

SAAS is an abbreviation for* Social Accountability Accreditation Services* Software as a service * Student Awards Agency for Scotland* Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences* South Australian Ambulance Service...

 (Security As A Service) network security hardware device for consumers that blocks spam e-mail, computer viruses and phishing

Phishing

Phishing is a way of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT...

. The company has U.S. and international patents pending, on SaaS delivery platform technology that enables any home networking embedded device such as a Broadband cable modem, DSL modem, Wireless router

Wireless router

A Wireless router is a device that performs the functions of a router but also includes the functions of a wireless access point and a network switch. They are commonly used to allow access to the Internet or a computer network without the need for a cabled connection. It can function in a wired...

 or Femtocell

Femtocell

In telecommunications, a femtocell is a small cellular base station, typically designed for use in a home or small business. It connects to the service provider’s network via broadband ; current designs typically support 2 to 4 active mobile phones in a residential setting, and 8 to 16 active...

 to offer network Security As A Service technology that blocks spam e-mail, computer viruses and phishing. The Spam Cube SaaS platform gives the consumer the choice to select spam e-mail, computer viruses, and phishing blocking technology that is powered by either 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...

 or 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:...

 managed enterprise Security As A Service technology.

Trademark Issues

In November 2005, the company ran into a costly legal battle with Hormel Foods over its trademark "Spam Cube". Hormel Foods claimed that the company's "Spam Cube" brand name was causing confusion amongst consumers, and that consumers were not be able to tell the difference between the Spam Cube a cube-shaped home network security device and Hormel's cube-shaped SPAM canned meat product. In February 2008, the company won the legal battle against Hormel Foods in the United States. The SPAM

Spam

Spam may refer to:* Spam , a canned pork meat product* Spam , unsolicited or undesired electronic messages* E-mail spam, unsolicited or undesired email messages* "Spam" , a comedy sketch...

 trademark dispute was widely publicized since the dispute would have forced the company into bankruptcy

Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....

 had Hormel Foods won.

Competitors

Three years after Spam Cube released its technology, Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...

 teamed up with Trend Micro

Trend Micro

Trend Micro Inc. is a computer security company. It is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and markets Trend Micro Internet Security, Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security, OfficeScan, and other related security products and services...

 to manufacture the Linksys

Linksys

Linksys by Cisco, commonly known as Linksys, is a brand of home and small office networking products now produced by Cisco Systems, though once a separate company founded in 1995 before being acquired by Cisco in 2003...

 Home Network Defender. Linksys

Linksys

Linksys by Cisco, commonly known as Linksys, is a brand of home and small office networking products now produced by Cisco Systems, though once a separate company founded in 1995 before being acquired by Cisco in 2003...

 and Trend Micro now compete directly with Spam Cube for market share in the embedded device SaaS market.

External links

• Spam Cube, Inc | Home Page
• New York Times - On the Job, A Spam Fighter Is Learning
• Picture of Spam Cube article on the front page of the March 30 edition of the New York Times
• NY1 interview with David J. Soares, CBDO of Spam Cube
• ABC News interview with Joseph P. Marino, CEO of Spam Cube
• Spam Cube's LinkedIn Company Profile