OzEmail's ever expanding on-line and software development operations have led them to rely on anti-virus measures of the highest possible standards. In late 1997, OzEmail IT staff undertook a thorough assessment of a range of anti-virus software products with the view to securing maximum protection from all possible sources of computer virus attacks. Among those products assessed by the company were McAfee, VET, Dr Solomon and Norton AntiVirus.

According to Mr Scott Gourlay, Team Leader at OzEmail Internal Services, the rise of electronic communication systems as business tools-of-trade has enforced the adoption of a rigid anti-virus policy within the company.

"Most aspects of our business these days are enhanced by e-mail and the Internet," he says. "With users accepting and generating many e-mail attachments daily, Word Macro viruses have become the biggest single threat of infection to this organisation's information system."

Aside from the obvious disruption viruses could cause to its own operations, OzEmail's reputation in the marketplace could be damaged if it was identified as a source of infection by its customers. Confronted with issues such as these, OzEmail recognised full and dynamic antivirus protection being a mission-critical component of its business stance and customer service ethic.

"We tested all the latest products against a number of viruses that we had been exposed to in the past. We then looked closely at important business issues such as ease-of-use, start-up times and very importantly, support requirements before deciding which was best for us," says Mr Gourlay.

One of the biggest features OzEmail was looking for was the ability to protect all levels of its multi-tiered computer environment - desktops, servers, gateways and firewalls. As well as ease of maintenance, a single product that would provide multi-tiered protection also meant that vendor support would only need to come from a single source.

Comprehensive present and future protection against all types of viruses as well as centralised distribution, alerting and management were other key features OzEmail was looking for. According to Mr Gourlay, Norton AntiVirus emerged as the best match, meeting all the company's stringent anti-virus requirements.

Symantec's National Sales Manager, Mr Ross Brewer, comments that OzEmail's adoption of Norton AntiVirus is a clear endorsement of the product's strength and reliability.

"Few people can fail to realise OzEmail as one of Australia's most dynamic and technologically advanced companies," says Mr Brewer. "We feel sure that following OzEmail's assessment and implementation of Norton AntiVirus, many other information-centric corporate and government organisations will need to follow suit."

Proactive Protection
In discussing the rollout of Norton AntiVirus within OzEmail, Mr Gourlay says: "The Internal Services team was able to easily manage the rollout and regular updates with a minimum of disruption thanks to distribution utilities supplied by Symantec. This represents major efficiency benefits to OzEmail.

"A team of only three managed to protect the entire network in just three weeks," he says. "It would have been even quicker but it was staged on a business group-by-group and server-by-server basis. The support we received from Symantec was excellent during this time."

Mr Gourlay points out that Symantec has continued to play a role in the company's anti-virus measures even after completion of the rollout. Particularly reassuring to OzEmail has been the 24-hour access it has to the Symantec AntiVirus Research Centre (SARC) in Sydney.

"Being supplied with automatic access to the latest virus definitions at scheduled regular intervals is the sort of ongoing support we were looking for," explains Mr Gourlay. "Access to the Live Updates and SARC mean we have reactive and, most importantly, proactive support to our virus protection."

Present and future protection
However, Norton AntiVirus provides OzEmail with protection against more than just those viruses that have already been identified. The cutting-edge Bloodhound and Striker technologies operate as a permanent mini-anti-virus research lab on all levels of the operating environment.

According to Mr Brewer, Symantec's anti-virus solution is built around NAVEX, an extensive core technology that stands for Norton AntiVirus Extension. "NAVEX represents one of the major differentials between Norton AntiVirus and other products currently on the market," he says.

"NAVEX allows us to update our scanning engine on the fly during definition rollout. This relieves administrators of the need to roll out a new version each time the engine needs updating.

"The Bloodhound technology 'sniffs out' new unknown macro, file and boot viruses that are created every day; and the Striker technology identifies and eradicates complex polymorphic viruses - viruses which mutate from one infection to another."

There are many major business efficiency benefits for OzEmail from its selection of Norton AntiVirus for their virus protection needs.

Mr Gourlay says: "The ease-of-use and easy maintenance of Norton AntiVirus makes it very much a set-and-forget deal for support staff. It uses very little disk space, scans rapidly and once it has been automatically installed to a desktop, the user will barely notice its presence. It is just quietly working in the background, constantly keeping an eye on all levels of the computer environment."

With SARC's records indicating that up to 15 new viruses are identified every day, being kept up to date with the latest definitions is mission-critical to effective virus protection. Again this is all centrally controlled.

"Distributing new definitions is just a matter of allocating them to the desktops," says Mr Gourlay. "This represents a massive reduction in the amount of time allocated by support staff to keeping on top of OzEmail's on-going antivirus protection requirements. We can now spend more time concentrating on maximising performance of our information systems rather than defending them from unknown threats."

Confidence in the system
According to Mr Gourlay, OzEmail is confident that with the help of Symantec and Norton AntiVirus, it has set up an environment that is as close to being virus-free as is possible.

"There is no doubt about the fact that Symantec is backing up its quality product with quality support. Subsequently, we are now fully assured that we have done everything possible to protect ourselves and our business partners from infection."

About Symantec
Symantec Corporation helps make users productive and keep their computers safe and reliable anywhere and anytime. Symantec offers a broad range of solutions and is acclaimed as a leader in both customer satisfaction and product brand recognition. The company is focused on addressing customer needs in three main application areas: the Norton product line of anti-virus and PC-assistance products; pcANYWHERE, WinFax and ACT! product lines that cater to remote user productivity; and the Cafe product lines in Internet development tools.

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