Elitecore ties up with Trend Micro for security tools

The Ahmedabad-based Elitecore Technologies Ltd, a convergent billing and internet management solutions provider, has tied up with Trend Micro Inc, a network anti-virus, anti-spam and internet content security company, to strengthen Cyberoam, Elitecore's content filtering, bandwidth management and virtual private network solution.

Cyberoam will now carry Trend Micro's InterScan messaging security suite (IMSS), spam prevention solution (SMS) and internet web security suite (IWSS) as an add-on module.

"Cyberoam is already strong in content filtering and bandwidth management and has found acceptance in enterprises and educational institutions. Content filtering reduces enterprises' exposure to virus and spam attacks when it controls non-work related internet usage by employees," Nikhil Jain, chief operating officer, Elitecore Technologies, said.

Content filtering is a $550 million market worldwide.

Elitecore Technologies has made over 200 installations of Cyberoam. The company targets to add 500 installations by the end of 2004 and expects the figure to grow to over 2,000 installations in 2006.

Computer virus attacks cost global businesses an estimated of $55 billion in 2003, up from around $20 billion to $30 billion in 2002 and over $13 billion in 2001.

While the extent of damage virus attacks can cause is widely known, spam-related damage is not widely known beyond information technology managers, the company said.

"There has been a strong market demand for a security solution in addition to our existing content filtering and bandwidth management modules. Worldwide customers are moving towards products that provide spam protection, virus protection and content filtering simultaneously. Trend Micro's security solution strengthens our core product and makes it more adaptable to the market's needs," said Jain.

According to a recent study by Radicati Group, the number of spam messages worldwide has grown by 115 per cent from 15 billion in 2003 to 35 billion spam messages in 2004. By year-end 2004, it is expected that 55 per cent of all active mailboxes will have deployed an anti-spam solution.

IMSS from Trend Micro addresses mixed-threat attacks by delivering co-ordinated policies for anti-virus and anti-spam. It helps information technology managers minimise time-consuming installation and configuration for multiple messaging security solutions, the company said.

Gateway protection provides protection against viruses and spam at the entry point itself, before they can cause damage to the network. The Trend Micro security solution provides the latest innovation in this technology, the company said.

"Providing these solutions on a single platform gives a comprehensive solution, lowers operating costs and ensures easy management," said Niraj Kaushik, country head, Trend Micro.

"Cyberoam can meet the content filtering and bandwidth needs of different users or groups within enterprises. Trend Micro's ability to set different security levels for different types of spam complements our product well. Security threats to a network must be dealt with in a multi-pronged manner. Bandwidth management, content filtering as well as an anti-virus, anti-spam solution can meet this need in totality," said Jain.