Odila Rubín de Ayala, Vice President of Information Technology, RCTV

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At Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV), Venezuela's oldest television broadcast network, nothing is more important than ensuring that the station's broadcast signal continues to transmit programming into homes around the country. As with every other broadcaster-as well as almost every enterprise in every other sector-email has become one of the most critical applications used in supporting operations 24/7. Everything from tracking advertising and sales plans to programming and compliance assurance rests on the shoulders-or backbone-of RCTV's email system.

RCTV operates two external Web sites, one that is news oriented and one focused on entertainment. Along with internal operations, the sites-which are visited by tens of thousands of people daily-generate, manage, and receive about 25,000 emails per day.

"Of the hundreds of thousands of email messages we receive monthly, as many as half are spam or are carrying viruses or spyware," says Odila Rubín de Ayala, RCTV's vice president of information technology.

In 2001, the station deployed the first in a series of Symantec software solutions that it planned to incorporate into its network over a period of several years. Today, RCTV protects its 60 IBM servers, 750 workstations, and two external Web sites with a threat management array incorporating Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition, Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange and SMTP, Symantec Web Security, Symantec Enterprise Security Manager, and Symantec Intruder Alert. "Since we've implemented Symantec we haven't had a single virus outbreak or suffered any damage or downtime from hackers," says Rubín de Ayala.

She notes that a typical company has relationships with customers and suppliers (RCTV has more than 1,000 clients and 4,500 providers of content and services), but broadcasters need to be connected to any viewers who want to comment about programming. "We need to be open to our audience," she notes. But such openness-especially in the highly polarized political environment in which RCTV operates-carries an unusual degree of risk. In 2002, demonstrators physically attacked the station.

The sometimes-rocky relationship between government and media in Venezuela has resulted in strict regulations regarding permissible content and compliance requirements. "It can be complicated to meet compliance mandates," says Rubín de Ayala. "We have to review all material, words, images, and scenes to be able to transmit anything."