AVG UK, an international provider of antivirus software aimed at the small-to-medium enterprise (SME) market, has opened a Dublin office as part of a rapid expansion for the company. The Irish operation will support resellers that provide AVG’s software to end customers.
The company’s software is used by an estimated 22 million people worldwide. According to Michael Foreman, who is a partner at AVG UK and who is overseeing the Irish office, the company aims to increase its sales in Ireland by 100pc by this time next year. Foreman pointed out that the company’s resellers in Ireland already bring in a higher percentage of sales than their UK counterparts.
He claimed that part of the attraction of the AVG product set to small businesses and home users was that it was easy to use. He pointed out that the company’s products support older operating systems such as Windows 95 and NT 4.
AVG UK recently enhanced its flagship AVG Network Edition software, which provides network antivirus protection and management for SME networks. At the heart of the AVG solution is the AVG DataCentre, a database containing all configuration and task settings. Remote management of all workstations and file servers on the network is made possible through AVGAdmin, a central administration tool.
Improvements made to this tool include new basic and advanced interfaces. The basic interface is now much cleaner making administration and management tasks much easier to perform. Managers of larger networks, who need to access the antivirus systems of individual workstations for more detailed viewing of the workstation data and configuring, can use the advanced interface.
The system is kept updated automatically at regular intervals by a worldwide network of 15,000 servers. AVG issues additional priority updates whenever a major new virus has been identified.
Grisoft, a Czech company that develops the AVG product, is currently beta testing a firewall product predominantly aimed at the home market, which it developed following customer feedback. No launch date has been formally announced but Foreman said that it would be most likely released some time later this year.
Locally, AVG also plans to strike a deal with a developer of anti-spyware software, to allow suppliers to sell the two items as a combined security solution to users.
With the opening of the Irish office, customers here will also be able to call a local number to avail of technical support. AVG also offers round-the-clock email support. “We do pride ourselves on our support levels,” said Foreman, who claimed that some other antivirus vendors provide technical support via premium-rate phone lines.
By Gordon Smith
