Microsoft completed its acquisition of Sybari Software on Tuesday, saying the technology would be a critical component of enterprise security — unless the enterprise runs Linux or Unix. Redmond no longer will sell products to keep those platforms secure.
Sybari, which sells security products for messaging and collaboration servers, will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft .
In a statement, Mike Nash, corporate vice president of the security business and technology unit at Microsoft, said the two companies would continue to work on deep integration of Sybari software products with Microsoft products, such as Exchange Server and Collaboration Server.
Sybari offerings for Windows will include Antigen for Microsoft Exchange, Antigen for Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server and Windows SharePoint Services, Antigen for Instant Messaging, Antigen for SMTP Gateways, Sybari Enterprise Manager, Advanced Spam Manager, Advanced Spam Defense and Antigen for Domino on Windows NT.
Amy Roberts, director of product management for Microsoft’s security business and technology unit, said both small businesses and enterprises would benefit from the antivirus software.
“The technology helps protect SharePoint document libraries from viruses and unwanted content,” she said. “Antigen scans documents as they are uploaded to the SharePoint portal site for viruses and administrator-defined content rules. Using this capability, Antigen helps administrators keep viruses from spreading via shared documents and helps enforce regulatory compliance policies.”
But Redmond will discontinue new sales of Antigen products for the Unix and Linux platforms while maintaining customer support for existing Sybari customers on those platforms. Microsoft also will maintain Sybari sales channel and licensing models.