Rob Forsyth, Managing Director of Sophos Asia Pacific.
Sophos, a world leader in IT security and control, has announced
that Perth-based Automotive Holdings Group (AHG) Limited (ASX:AHE)
has deployed its computer security solutions to protect more than
1,200 computer users in Western Australia and Victoria. Sophos now
guards AHG's servers, PCs, laptops and email gateways against
malicious threats, unauthorised intrusion and potentially unwanted
applications.
AHG is Australia's largest automotive dealer group and holds 86
franchises across Australia and New Zealand. The group generates
income from the sale of new and used cars, finance and insurance,
service and parts, as well as through its logistics division which
operates businesses in the warehousing, transport and distribution
sectors. AHG's net profit after tax for the year ended 30 June 2006
was AUD$20.2 million, a 19.5% increase on its 2005 prospectus
forecast.
"AHG's core requirement was for a cross-platform endpoint
security solution that would protect the integrity of our data
without compromise, but also be easy to install, configure and
manage from a centralised location," said Eugene Kavanagh, CIO for
AHG. "We also required the solution to be highly flexible so it
could seamlessly adapt to any future changes to the
organisation."
AHG selected Sophos following a comprehensive evaluation of the
offerings of competing IT security providers by Kavanagh's systems
engineers.
"Sophos ticked all the boxes and was the best solution from a
performance/price perspective," Kavanagh said. "Furthermore, one of
the key features that made our decision to move to Sophos rest more
comfortably with us was the provision of local support in
Australia. Even during our pilot run, we received regular advice
from Sophos and knowing that technical support is only an
Australian phone call away is something we value."
According to Kavanagh, AHG conducts much of its business via the
internet.
"Email is a very important business tool for each of our dealers
and we are also connected to the extranets of most manufacturers we
have franchises with. Protecting these systems against computer
threats is of critical importance to our ongoing growth and
success," he explained.
"With the protection of its customer, manufacturer, shareholder,
employee, financial and other critical information at stake, it is
very pleasing that AHG made the decision for Sophos," said Rob Forsyth,
Managing Director, Asia Pacific for Sophos. "We welcome them to our
rapidly growing base of Australian customers and look forward to
working closely with them to support and protect their
business."
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.