Government Minister visits HQ of global anti-virus firm to
receive advice on safe computing and the needs of hi-tech
businesses
 Mark Forrest, Director of Sales and Marketing at Sophos,
greets Paddy Tipping MP |
Paddy Tipping, Parliamentary Secretary to the Privy Council
Office, today visited the Abingdon HQ of Sophos Anti-Virus, a world
leader in corporate anti-virus protection. The minister used the
visit to discuss the needs of fast-growing, hi-tech businesses such
as Sophos and to benefit from advice on how organisations can
protect against computer viruses.
In his role in the Government's Business Coordination Unit, Mr
Tipping regularly visits both small and large businesses to discuss
their needs and what they feel is required from the Government. As
part of the Government's initiative for all UK businesses to be
online by 2005, Mr Tipping is keen to listen to the viewpoints of
organisations such as Sophos.
"Sophos is an example of a great British IT company," said Mr
Tipping. "We strongly believe that the UK is capable of becoming a
leading hi-tech economy and by listening to companies like Sophos
we hope to put in place the necessary policies to support the
growth of this exciting industry sector."
Sophos Anti-Virus is a highly successful UK company based in
Abingdon, Oxfordshire. It employs over 170 people at its HQ and
more than 50 further staff at its offices in France, Germany, the
US, Japan and Australia. The company is expanding rapidly and is
extending its Abingdon site to house more than 200 new employees,
which the company plans to recruit over the next two years. Sophos
Anti-Virus protects more than 65% of the top 100 companies in the
FT500 listing.
"It's encouraging to know that the Government is taking the
security threat seriously," said Graham Cluley, senior technology
consultant at Sophos Anti-Virus. "As more companies go online and
more businesses become dependent on computers for core activities,
it's crucial that the safe computing message is
hammered home."
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.