McAfee Wednesday rolled out a new anti-virus appliance built for small- and
medium-sized businesses that is capable of protecting a network of up to
2,000 users.
The WebShield e50 appliance is a firewall-independent scanner that combines
hardware with McAfee’s widely-used anti-virus software, easily plugging into
virtually any existing network of up to 2,000 users.
WebShield e50 monitors SMTP gateways, scanning Internet traffic at the
network perimeter without impacting other systems, such as firewalls or
e-mail servers. The product is ideal for smaller companies who can’t afford
to have their IT resources sucked up.
Eric Hemmendinger, senior research analyst at Aberdeen Group, was briefed on
the new app.
“The WebShield e50 is a fire and forget virus stopper. For IS buyers in
small and mid-size enterprises, the new WebShield device is simpler to
deploy than buying software and configuring a Microsoft NT or Windows 2000
server,” Hemmendinger said.
“And for resellers, the WebShield e50 can be a building block for new
offerings that include consulting services for small enterprises without the
IT resources needed to manage complex AV offerings.”
Drakken, an independent Internet service provider, beta-tested the appliance
on its network.
The firm’s technical director, Ian Hill, said WebShield e50 was very
effective.
“The McAfee WebShield e50 appliance exceeded our expectations in testing,
offering plug-and-play installation and optimal scanning performance of our
Internet traffic.”
The McAfee WebShield e50 appliance was built with the firm’s Active Virus
Defense scanning engine, which halts viruses and malicious code,
including macro viruses, Internet email, Trojan horses, worms, and hostile
ActiveX and Java code.
The new WebShield e50 appliance also includes McAfee’s Outbreak Manager, an
anti-virus technology that automatically
monitors network e-mail by looking for activities that may indicate virus
outbreaks. With the enhanced content scanning capabilities of the WebShield
e50, administrators are able to know exactly what is entering and leaving
the network.
WebShield e50, which starts at $3,560, is available Wednesday from McAfee.