Sophos Plc, the world leader in network-based anti-virus
solutions, has announced that its 'Safe Data Education' initiative
to supply low-cost virus protection to educational establishments
has now signed up over 10,000 schools, colleges and universities
throughout the UK.
Subscription to the education initiative, launched only 18
months ago, has grown so rapidly that Sophos has recruited a
dedicated team to handle the level of enquiries. The scheme offers
affordable anti-virus protection to all levels of educational
institutions, from primary schools to universities, and was
introduced in response to the government's 'Internet For All'
pledge.
"The 'Safe Data Education' package is a financially feasible and
logistically flexible service which allows the Open University to
take advantage of Sophos's excellent software and UK-based
support," said David Phillips, IT Facilitator at The Open
University. "Protecting the OU from virus attack is no mean task,
as the Internet is becoming one of the major tools in distance
learning. Disruption on this service could cause major problems in
such an environment. Sophos supports us reliably and efficiently
under one comprehensive licensing policy."
"The very nature of educational establishments makes it
incredibly hard to police what students bring in or download onto
shared machines, so effective anti-virus software is of paramount
importance," said Petra Merne, marketing manager at Sophos.
"Regardless of its size, our initiative offers a school or college
simple site-wide licensing at a very affordable price, so I'm
pleased but not too surprised at the success of the scheme."
Sophos Anti-Virus delivers up-to-the-minute protection against
all known viruses and is backed up with 24/7 technical support. The
software is simple to install and configure whether in a primary
school with 30 PCs or in a 2000 user university.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.