With industry experts predicting <A HREF="http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1956656,00.asp">a wave of consolidation</A> across the security applications sector, the continued efforts of the IT industry's largest players to bake more defense features into their products could accelerate the rapid shifts in the market. Since the beginning of 2006, most of the computing world's largest names have issued new promises of added security in their products, with companies such as Cisco, EMC, Intel and Microsoft aggressively promoting their expanded efforts. In some cases, such as EMC's buyout of rights-management specialists Authentica in March, leading technology firms are bringing onboard new capabilities and products via acquisitions.