Analyst Research Confirms Sunbelt Software's Industry-Leading Endpoint Performance & Cost

VIPRE Enterprise 20-40% More Efficient Than Competitors' Bloated Antivirus Architectures

• Press Release
• Source: Sunbelt Software
• On 10:00 am EST, Wednesday December 10, 2008

CLEARWATER, FL--(MARKET WIRE)--Dec 10, 2008 -- Sunbelt Software, a leading provider of Windows security and management software, has released a report examining the state of anti-malware and antivirus technologies in conjunction with the Information Technology Intelligence Corporation (ITIC). Authored by ITIC principal Laura DiDio, the report concludes that Sunbelt's VIPRE Enterprise is 20% to 40% more efficient and up to 70% less costly than competing products, which are causing productivity losses as well as compromising network security for many organizations.

Titled 'VIPRE Takes a Bite out of Bloatware,' the October 2008 report surveyed 50 small and midsized consultants and corporate SMBs with 30 to 500 end users to determine their views on the current state of antivirus, antispyware and anti-malware technologies. While respondents regarded these technologies as essential to combating security threats posed by rogue code including viruses, trojans, bots, zombies, spyware, spam and blended malware, they complained about the poor performance of most products and the effects on their operations.

"Enterprises are suffering serious consequences from bloatware masquerading as an antivirus or anti-malware solution," DiDio said. "Our interviews revealed some startling scenarios in which businesses actually uninstalled their antivirus/antispyware solution and put their security at risk so as not to suffer productivity losses due to bloat alone. Others forego using certain software applications in some environments because system performance takes too big of a hit."

With a completely new architecture, however, Sunbelt's VIPRE got high marks from current customers and the industry at large. Respondents estimated that competitive products were on average 30% less efficient than VIPRE overall.

VIPRE's efficiencies stem from the use of multiple techniques to inspect the characteristics of all types of potentially threatening files on the network. From simple signature-based detection to dynamic, sophisticated analysis of malware files, VIPRE quickly determines whether a file is good or bad, enabling detection of existing as well as newer, unidentified threats.

"As we look at the data from ITIC's research and our experiences in the SMB market, it is obvious that IT is suffering from bloated AV technologies," said Sunbelt Software CEO Alex Eckelberry. "As these bigger, multi-layered technologies fail to meet enterprise needs and cause serious performance and productivity issues, IT managers are looking for a cleaner, faster and more comprehensive anti-malware solution. This report proves that VIPRE is the answer, and the fact that it costs 33% to 70% less than older technologies is a bonus for lean IT budgets."

ITIC specifically queried customers to gauge their responses to a changing antivirus and anti-malware marketplace. The report noted that Sunbelt's VIPRE Enterprise is specifically designed to address today's blended malware threats and praised the company's virus intrusion prevention remediation engine, fast scan-on-boot technology, and kernel level Active Protection(TM).

The survey also found significant differences in technical support. VIPRE users reported rarely, if ever, encountering waiting times of more than 10 minutes when calling Sunbelt's help desk, while waits of an hour or more were commonplace with Sunbelt competitors including Symantec. Sunbelt engineers were 'almost always' able to solve issues during the initial phone call, according to respondents.

Sunbelt Software's VIPRE Enterprise provides comprehensive endpoint virus, spyware and malware protection with the highest performance architecture and lowest system resource usage available. VIPRE Enterprise combines antivirus, antispyware, anti-rootkit and other technologies into a single agent that is managed centrally. By utilizing next-generation security, VIPRE ensures endpoint malware protection without any of the performance and resource headaches that accompany traditional enterprise antivirus products.

A copy of the report can be downloaded here at Sunbelt Software's website.

About Sunbelt Software

Sunbelt Software was founded in 1994 and is a leading provider of Windows security and management software with product solutions in the areas of antispam and antivirus, antispyware, and vulnerability assessment. Leading products include the CounterSpy and VIPRE product lines, Ninja Email Security, Sunbelt Exchange Archiver, and CWSandbox malware analysis tools. The company, located in Tampa Bay, Florida is part of the French-based Sunbelt International Group. For more information, visit the company's website at www.sunbeltsoftware.com and the corporate blog at www.sunbeltblog.com.

About Information Technology Intelligence Corporation (ITIC)

ITIC, founded in 2002, is a research and consulting firm based in the suburban Boston area that covers the high technology industry. It provides primary research on a wide variety of technology topics ranging from software, hardware, networking, virtualization and cloud computing to the services industries that support the technology, including outsourcing. ITIC's mission is to help vendor and corporate clients make sense of the technology and business events that are impacting their infrastructures and their IT budgets.

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