According to Tekwani, although Cloudmark dates back to 2001, the last few years has seen Cloudmark gain significant traction in the consumer space, largely as a result of deals with internet service providers, who offer Cloudmark's service to their subscribers

As a result, Cloudmark's Tekwani told Infosecurity, his firm now has around 120 service providers worldwide and, following on from this, Cloudmark is moving beyond its internet origins and firmly into the fixed and mobile line markets.

"We're now moving into mobile (anti-spam and malware) - this started last year and has been very successful", he said, adding that because of people's increasing mobility, they are accessing their email and internet facilities on the move from mobile devices such as smartphones and netbooks.

There's been, Cloudmark's Tekwani explained, a large-scale trend towards the adoption of mobile email on both sides of the Atlantic over the last 12 months or so.

"We had, for example, 200 million of our users on mobiles at the end of 2008, and that figure has risen to 300 million as of the end of 2009 - that's a major shift in email trends", he said.

So what's driving this shift to mobile email - and away from the desktop?

It is, Tekwani explained, the arrival of mobile broadband on smartphones, and the introduction of flat-rate monthly billing for many users. This means they can access as much – or as little – mobile email and internet services as they wish.

And, says Tekwani, this trend is not just confined to the UK and Europe - it's also happening in Asia, where a lot of mobile users are also embracing these unlimited messaging deals.

The next major trend in mobile internet and email services, says the Cloudmark vice president, will be the opening of mobile-specific web portals by the cellular operators themselves, rather than allowing third party companies to do it for them.

As a result, he says, the mobile internet world is really starting to open up and is requiring some new and next-generation approaches as far as IT security is concerned.

On top of this, Cloudmark's Tekwani went on to say, smartphone users are downloading a lot of apps, which run on their mobiles and access the internet in ways not seen on the desktop.

"And this is a major security issue. Spam and botnets on mobiles are going to a potentially major problem in 2010", he said.