Fighting malware and spam

Microsoft to beat Symantec to corporate release punch

With Forefront due out soon, Symantec's latest release suffers further delay.

Microsoft has announced the release to manufacture of Forefront Client, the corporate implementation of its anti-virus technology, with full sales release expected within weeks. Current market leader in the corporate AV market Symantec, meanwhile, has announced further delays to the release of its long-expected next-generation corporate software, originally scheduled for release in the first quarter of this year but now expected to make the public Beta stage sometime in the next few months.

Delays in the release of Symantec's new product are thought to be down to issues with integrating software from a range of sources acquired by the security giant in recent years. The new product will include anti-rootkit technology from Veritas, behavioural detection from WholeSecurity and NAC functionality from Sygate. A Symantec spokesman has said the public beta schedule, along with expected final release dates, will be announced next month.

Microsoft's Forefront, a corporate implementation of the anti-malware technology used by the home-user OneCare product with added functionality for the business network, is scheduled to hit the shelves by the end of May. The release will put to rest earlier speculation that Microsoft would stay out of the corporate anti-virus market and concentrate on protecting their home users.

The product has already been criticised by some commentators, who point to OneCare's difficult release with several significant problems emerging from independent testing, including the product's failure to achieve VB100 certification, cited by a Symantec spokesperson as 'the benchmark test for AV engines'.

'New products often suffer teething problems, and need a while to settle into a solid routine of development,' said John Hawes, Technical Consultant at Virus Bulletin. 'Microsoft has been working hard at improving its detection, expanding its analysis teams with high-profile hiring and improving its network of labs. We're expecting a lot of new products for the next VB100 comparative, as well as a wide range of offerings from the more established players, and the June issue of VB should include some interesting insights into how products for the Windows XP platform compare.'

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04 May 2007

Tags: corporate, forefront, microsoft, product release, symantec.