Trend looks to lift security worries from SMBs

zoom

Justin Doo, managing director of Southern Emerging Markets EMEA for Trend Micro

Trend Micro is aiming to improve security for SMBs, with the launch of the latest version its Worry-Free Business Security solution.

Worry-Free 5.0 has been designed to provide small to medium sized organizations with protection against the latest security threats, while remaining easy to use. The new version includes both services ‘in the cloud' and on the client, and many automated features to help make security quicker and simpler to manage.

"Worry-Free Business Security 5.0 inherits the solid foundation upon which Worry-Free Security was built upon over four years ago: all-in-one integrated defense, automatic threat protection with minimal administrative requirements," said Steve Quane, executive general manager, SMB business unit, Trend Micro.

"Our current and future customers can continue to count on this, as well as benefit from the newest arsenal of technology we've included in Worry-Free Business Security 5.0 that is designed for a new generation of small businesses that is more mobile, Web-dependent and facing profligate cybercrimes," he added.

Among the enhancements to Worry-Free 5.0 are hosted technology such as web threat protection and InterScan Messaging Hosted Security, which provide anti-spam, anti-phishing and anti-spyware services in the cloud, which means SMBs will lose less bandwidth in downloading spam, and can save resources on the desktop and server that world normally be dedicated to maintaining and running applications.

At the desktop and server level, the solution monitors application behavior, to detect unusual activity, which provide addition protection without the need to download large, outdated virus pattern files. Worry-Free has been designed for compatibility with applications and operating systems that are commonly in use by SMBs, including Microsoft Small Business Server and Intuit QuickBooks.

Worry-Free addresses security threats to laptops, with location based awareness that can change laptop settings when the device is out of office, to prevent data leakage.

The solution also includes a remote management console, which will enable a small business without its own IT staff to have its security managed remotely by a trusted IT provider.

Justin Doo, managing director of Southern Emerging Markets EMEA for Trend Micro, said that he expects Worry-Free to be a success in the region as it addresses three problems faced by SMBs in the region.

"In the GCC, 99% of all businesses by volume are small businesses. For these businesses, IT is a necessary evil, and most SMB managers don't have the time and ability to keep abreast of all the security threats. There is a shortage of network engineers and that shortage is a real challenge," Doo said.

"Bandwidth still costs a disproportionate amount, and most small businesses are only running a single server for their business applications, for their email. By providing services in the cloud we will strip out spam and so on before it gets to the mail server, and we can give more processing power back to the business applications," he added.

"Thirdly, the reseller channel faces challenges with its own internal staffing - as small businesses themselves, they need to reduce the time they spend visiting customer sites, and this product allows remote management through Trend's portal," he said.

Worry-Free will be available for an annual licence fee, although Trend may move this to a monthly subscription service once the market is open to the idea. Trend is also hoping to work with ISPs or data centres in the region to replicate its online services locally, further cutting bandwidth usage and improving services for local customers.

Print | Email | Discuss this article |

USER COMMENTS (0 COMMENTS)

POST A COMMENT

CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Security Code *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.