Microsoft Releases New Antigen Security Suite

Microsofts big push into the enterprise anti-virus market took another step forward June 6 with the release of a completely revamped Antigen e-mail security product suite.

The release comes just over a year after Microsofts acquisition of Sybari Software and includes Antigen for Exchange, Antigen for SMTP Gateways, Antigen Spam Manager and Antigen Enterprise Manager.

In an interview with eWEEK, Steve Brown, director of product management for Microsofts Security Access and Solutions Division, said the multiengine anti-virus scanning products have been fitted with a new Web-based management console, improved clustering capabilities and the malware-detection technology used in the companys Windows Defender application.

The Antigen line gives customers a choice of as many as nine anti-virus scanning engines from third-party vendors Network Associates, Norman Data Defense Systems, Sophos, Computer Associates, Kaspersky Lab, MailFilters, VirusBuster, AhnLab and Authentium.

/zimages/2/28571.gifRead morehereabout Microsofts acquisition of Sybari.

The products will be available to business customers via Microsofts volume licensing on July 1. Brown said businesses can begin a three-month trial to evaluate the products at the Antigen download site.

The Antigen for Sharepoint and Antigen for IM products, which remains under the Sybari brand, are also available for trial.

The products will be sold on a per-user, per-year basis, Brown said, noting that the list price for Antigen for Exchange starts at $10.50 per year, per user for volumes under 250 users.

The messaging security suite, which bundles three different Antigen products, starts at $14.50 per user, per year, he said.

“Weve seen great traction for Antigen from small businesses, right up the largest enterprise. We have some deployments in businesses with more than 100,000 seats,” Brown said, describing the latest release as “version 9 of Antigen.”

/zimages/2/28571.gifRead morehereabout the earlier decision to rebrand the Antigen line.

“This is proven technology that is being used by over 12,000 customers today. Its available for companies with one Exchange server or for the largest company out there.

“Its what we use at Microsoft for e-mail security,” he added.

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