If nothing else, the emergence of the Anna Kournikova virus that wreaked havoc on so many computers earlier this month may make small to midsize companies consider buying an anti-virus appliance to provide extra security at the perimeter of their networks.
One hardware/software combo worth considering is the McAfee WebShield e50. Released by Network Associates Inc. last month and targeted at businesses with roughly 2,000 employees, the firewall- independent appliance runs anti-virus software that works as an SMTP gateway virus scanner.
The plug-and-play WebShield e50 uses the McAfee Active Virus scanning engine and works in conjunction with firewalls and e-mail servers to secure networks from the perimeter, scanning Internet traffic and providing remote management utilizing a browser-based SMTP client.
Prices for the WebShield e50 start at $3,560. Network Associates can be reached at www.nai.com.