Over here we use a program called F-prot Antivirus and have been using it for several years. The software is put out by Frisk International (http://www.f-prot.com/) and works wonderful for our needs. It has a very small memory footprint, an independent scheduler and it's update program allows for you to update over the Net or from a LAN location. We chose this program because most other AV packages seem to be too bulky and many times cause their own issues. Best of all you cannot beat the pricing, well except for free, which is around $2-3 per computer. When we last renewed our license it cost a little over $1,300 for 800 licenses. For a more detail on pricing you can look here: https://secure.f-prot.com/cgi-bin/buy
Hope this helps.
________________________________________________
Stephen Bogdanski Network Support, MSU-CVM
Michigan State University [log in to unmask]
A227 VetMed Center Phone: (517) 353-5551
East Lansing, MI 48824 Fax: (517) 432-2937
>>> John Valenti <[log in to unmask]> 04/09/04 01:07PM >>>
I've been thinking about what to do for anti-virus protection when our
Symantec AV license runs out in July. Sophos is an option that I
explored a few years back, but lost interest in after the campus NAV
license was established.
Now it seems that Sophos has more competitive pricing, so I plan on
evaluating that in May. But I wanted to bring this to the group's
attention now, for people that may be farther along in the order
process. www.sophos.com has a free download for evaluation.
-John
The sales rep implied that pricing would get better for larger
quantities. Here is a cut from a price quote:
Sophos Anti-Virus (SAV) for 500 Computers (not to exceed 50 servers)
Product Subscription Term QTY Unit Price Total
Cost per Year
SAV 1 year 500 $7.00 $3,500.00 $3,500.00
SAV 2 year 500 $10.50 $5,250.00 $2,100.00*
SAV 3 year 500 $14.00 $7,000.00 $1,866.65*
*Note: 2- year subscription includes 6 additional months at no charge
for a total term of 30 months
*Note: 3- year subscription includes 9 additional months at no charge
for a total term of 45 months
And a quote from a Sophos sales rep:
>
> Why Sophos is Different
>
> 1. Updating - Sophos considers ALL computer viruses in the wild as a
> threat. We are the only major anti-virus company that updates our virus
> databank daily. Norton/Symantec updates weekly, unless there is a virus
> emergency.
> Sophos customers go to the Sophos Datank 24 times a day to poll for the
> latest virus updates.
>
> 2. Update size - For 23 years Sophos' sole focus was anti-virus for
> institutions (not home users). The software is designed to support large
> networks. One result - our update files are text files and they are 2-4
> kb. Norton/Symantec update files are anywhere from 100K - 5MB. When the
> size of a virus file is smaller than an update file, there is trouble.
>
> 3. Sophos uses checksumming. When you install Sophos, it scans all files
> on a machine for viruses and creates a checksum for each file. When you
> scan the machine again (whether scheduled or on-demand), Sophos only scans
> new files or files that have been modified since the last scan - as these
> are the only files that might contain a virus. The result is low CPU
> utilization and negligible desktop strain.
>
> 4. Sophos cannot be removed from a machine by an end user - and end
> user's don't need to because when Sophos is updating, you can still use
> other applications on your PC. I personally have worked at companies
> running Norton/Symantec and many have removed it because when it was
> updating, their machines were essentially frozen.
>
> 5. Support - A) Sophos has virus labs across the globe that work on virus
> signature files at all hours of the day, B) Sophos has global support
> teams that are available all hours of the day, C) All Sophos licenses come
> with 7 x 24 live body customer support from Sophos Engineers (not
> outsourced). D) Since Sophos sells only to business, in virus emergencies
> we don't have 100's of thousands of small users clogging the support lines
> and web sites.
>
>
> Chris Taylor, Senior Account Executive, Sophos
> Email: [log in to unmask], Tel: 781 973 1193, Web: www.sophos.com
> Add live virus info to your website:http://www.sophos.com/link/vfeed
>
