4 February 1998

Symantec Australia and New Zealand has announced the release of Norton AntiVirus (NAV) for Lotus Notes, the latest addition to the company's suite of automatic, comprehensive virus protection products.

NAV for Lotus Notes works in real time to scan, detect, and repair viruses found in Notes databases and mail file attachments, including pervasive macro viruses in Word and Excel documents. NAV for Lotus Notes includes Symantec's revolutionary Bloodhound technology which is able to detect and repair new and unknown viruses automatically.

"With the growing number of companies in the market migrating from traditional e-mail systems toward collaborative groupware systems, it has become increasingly imperative to provide these users with the same high level of security designed into our other Norton AntiVirus products," said Michelle Amery, Symantec's General Manager for Australia and New Zealand. "Our NAV for Lotus Notes offering is yet another indication of Symantec's commitment to providing an integrated suite of multiple platform anti-virus products for customers."

"Norton AntiVirus for Lotus Notes is effective in eliminating viruses in the database while not slowing performance, a key benefit for administrators," she added. "With Symantec's leading edge virus technology Lotus Notes users now have a comprehensive solution which not only protects against known and unknown viruses, but is seamlessly integrated with Notes."

Collaborative applications often act as a breeding ground for viruses. NAV for Lotus Notes prevents virus infections from invading mission-critical groupware applications, saving corporations countless hours of downtime and rework. In addition to providing real-time protection for file attachments, NAV for Lotus Notes scans, detects, and repairs viruses in OLE objects and in FTP downloads.

With eighty percent of all infections coming from Macro viruses, the major infector in a Notes environment, Norton AntiVirus for Lotus Notes has the benefit of a quarantine database. The database holds notes or mail messages whose attachments cannot be repaired or contain suspect components, ensuring administrators and users that infectious documents are isolated and, therefore, cannot spread to other files.

NAV for Lotus Notes users receive cutting-edge protection against unknown viruses through Symantec's revolutionary Bloodhound technology. While most anti-virus scanners are only able to identify viruses that have been pre-analysed by virus researchers, the Bloodhound system uses heuristic technology to analyse programs, detect unknown or new viruses, and enable the user to repair the infected file immediately. Bloodhound is able to detect and repair up to 90 percent of all new and unknown macro viruses automatically.

Because virus protection is only as good as its virus definitions are current, the LiveUpdate feature of NAV for Lotus Notes automatically updates users with the latest virus definitions and can be scheduled in advance. LiveUpdate updates virus definitions in order to ensure that each server remains completely protected against the latest threats. These updates, which continue for the life of the product, are free of charge, automatically delivered, and fully tested at all times.

NAV for Lotus Notes also includes a signature feature that automatically scans signed notes. In addition, administrators can use the extension list feature in NAV for Lotus Notes to specify which files can safely be excluded from scanning, providing administrators with an added level of control and flexibility.

Administrators will find NAV for Lotus Notes easy to use and configure. With features such as e-mail alerting for repair and quarantine notification, Notes-based configuration and documentation, and a log update detailing critical events, administrators receive the information they need to help them maintain a virus-free environment.

Symantec AntiVirus Research Centre

System Requirements, Pricing and Availability

Note to Editors - Symantec Corporation helps make computer users productive and keep their systems safe and reliable anywhere, anytime. The company is focused on addressing customer needs in three main application areas: the Norton product line of anti-virus and PC-assistance products; the pcAnywhere, WinFax and ACT! product lines that cater to remote user productivity; and the Cafe product lines in Internet development tools.

Founded in 1982, Symantec maintains corporate headquarters in Cupertino, California with regional offices in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore, Malaysia, Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland. Traded on Nasdaq under the symbol SYMC, Symantec is ranked in the top ten international software vendors and employs more than 2000 people worldwide. Information on the company and its products can be obtained at the Symantec Asia-Pacific Press Centre on the World Wide Web at http://www.symantec.com/region/au_nz/PressCenter/index.html