Sophos, a world leader in protecting businesses against viruses
and spam, today unveiled its new range of Small Business solutions,
designed to meet the
computer security needs of companies with fewer than 100
employees. The solutions provide businesses with products that are
easy to install, use and update, and are ideal for companies with
limited IT resources.
Recently, 80 per cent of respondents to a Sophos poll of 4,000
small- and medium-sized businesses indicated that the flood of spam
made them less productive, yet only 28 per cent currently have an
anti-spam solution in place. A follow-up poll, revealed that
more than 50 per cent of employees felt that their employers should
take preventative action to help ensure that spam containing
violent, pornographic and other offensive content does not find its
way to their inboxes.
These findings are supported by the New South Wales Department
of State and Regional Development which surveyed 300 of its small
business clients in July 2004. In this survey, 95 per cent
indicated that they had received spam and that spam adversely
impacted their business. In addition, 73 per cent of businesses
considered that spam is a 'timewaster', 36 per cent stated that
their staff spend more than 30 minutes a day dealing with spam and
25 per cent believed the cost of spam to their businesses to be
more than A$5,000 per annum.
"The majority of the more than one million small businesses in
Australia do not have dedicated IT managers and yet research
indicates they are relying on the online world and email for their
day-to-day operations in ever increasing numbers," said Kourosh
Ghassemi, Research Director for SMEs, Vertical Markets and
Infrastructure at IDC Australia. "Security is of vital importance
to these businesses and while most are aware of the threats out
there, they are unsure of how to protect themselves. Any technology
that can assist them in an easy and affordable way would be of
great benefit."
Rob Forsyth, Managing Director for Sophos Australia and New
Zealand, said, "Faced with increasing risk brought about by
viruses, spyware, phishing
attacks and spam, small businesses have told us they want a
hands-off solution that is simple to install and updates
automatically. Sophos has addressed these concerns by completely
reengineering its software for small business use and, from today,
our enterprise strength protection is available straight out of the
box, with minimal setup, to protect small businesses 24/7.
"Furthermore, we've addressed the common IT resources issue
faced by small businesses by backing our software with unlimited
access to local and live customer support, meaning business owners
can focus on growth and rely on our resources when they're
needed."
The Sophos Small Business Suite provides full protection against
today's virus and spam threats for servers, desktops, notebooks and
internet gateways. This suite comprises the Sophos PureMessage
Small Business Edition, which combines award-winning computer spam
and virus protection for the email gateway and Sophos Anti-Virus
Small Business Edition, which offers a comprehensive desktop and
server defense against computer virus threats.
The Sophos Small Business Suite automatically downloads the
latest virus and spam protection, and ensures minimal impact on
users while improving network efficiency. The software can be
centrally deployed and managed using the Sophos Control Center.
Key Features:
- Complete protection against viruses, spyware and phishing
attacks on servers, desktops, internet gateways and notebooks
- Industry-leading
spam protection
- Automatic updates
- 24/7 technical support
- No hidden costs
Pricing and Availability:
The Sophos Small Business Suite is available immediately and
indicative pricing for 50 users is A$4,799.00. Please contact
Sophos on +61 2 9409 9100 for your nearest reseller or visit the
Small Business Suite
page.
Small Business Security Reseller Seminars:
Sophos will introduce the Small Business Suite to resellers at
seminars in Australia during November. Sophos will outline local
market opportunities and detail the key
computer security concerns facing small- and medium-sized
businesses.
The Sophos Small Business Security Reseller Seminars will be
held in the following city centres:
| Brisbane | November 16 | The Novotel |
| Adelaide | November 17 | Hilton Adelaide |
| Melbourne | November 23 | Sheraton Towers Southgate |
| Sydney | November 24 | The Westin |
Sophos will also conduct regional reseller seminars around
Australia.
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.