More freedom, less hassle, greater protection

PRAGUE, Czech Republic, July 19, 2011 – AVAST Software has launched avast! Business Protection, its comprehensive IT security software for small and medium-sized businesses. avast! Business Protection uses the award-winning 6.0 antivirus engine and includes a new browser-based central management console, giving IT administrators and service providers the ability to remotely manage protected desktops and servers in their network via the internet.

From start to finish, installing avast! Business Protection takes less than half of the clicks demanded by other major competitors. Well-designed default settings and the ability to inherit configurations from the previous system combine to make installation easy. Once fully installed, avast! Business Protection still takes a quarter less computing resources than most of the competition.

“AVAST is about freedom,” said Vince Steckler, CEO of AVAST Software. “With avast! Business Protection, we are providing the comprehensive network and endpoint security that businesses need in a package that is simple enough for people who are not IT experts to freely operate.“

avast! Business Protection highlights:

• Light and compact – avast! Business Protection takes 0.75GB of computer space for full installation. That is less than a third of the space required by Symantec Protection Suite, Small Business Edition and still a quarter less space than similar products from AVG, ESET, and Kaspersky.
• Fully mobile administration – The unique avast! Administration Console enables remote access via any computer browser, freeing system administrators from their dependency on a fixed location or a specific machine as they have with AVG or Symantec.
• Install and forget – avast! Business Protection automatically detects new computers as they attach to the company network, alerting system administrators to unknown “rogue” machines and enabling them to decide how new devices should be administered within the secure network.
• Proven protection – avast! Business Protection builds on the tested antivirus engine in avast! 6.0 which has won industry recognition from organizations such as VirusBulletin and AV Comparatives for its detection abilities, fast scanning speed, and light footprint. avast! Business Protection includes on-access rootkit detection and enables boot-time scans to find and remove malware hidden within the OS.
• Keeps data private – The new SafeZone™ feature enables safer banking and transfer of sensitive information with a virtualized desktop guarding against data-stealing malware such as keyloggers. System administrators decide who can use this function.

“Business users get avast!’s proven detection ability together with the look and feel of our consumer AV products,“ said Mr. Steckler. “Organizations are spending too much time and too many resources to keep their antivirus protection functioning. They should be able to focus on their core activities and not have to micromanage their antivirus application.”

avast! Business Protection comes in two variants. avast! Business Protection includes all of the previously mentioned console and security features. avast! Business Protection Plus has the additional features of the Silent Firewall andAntispam filter to defend against intrusions and keep fraudulent emails out of employee mailboxes. Available from AVAST’s global network of resellers and AVAST’s own online shop.

(Blog article taken from www.avast.com News & Blog page)