Kaspersky launches hosted security

 

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By Stuart Turton and Barry Collins

Posted on 21 Jan 2008 at 09:21

Kaspersky is extending its hosted security services to the UK, as it seeks to expand its current antivirus offering.

Kaspersky will offer companies the choice of two hosted security suites: anti-spam and anti-virus, both backed by service level agreements.

Hosted service seeks to filter harmful content, whether it be spam or malware, before it reaches the corporate network. At the moment the anti-spam portion of the suite is dedicated to filtering email, though the company plans to extend it to web and instant messaging filtering in the next quarter.

Kaspersky is claiming its hosted services "can be deployed at around 30% of the cost of procuring and administering an in-house email protection solution."

However, as political tensions between the UK and Russia grow, will businesses be worried about entrusting their data to a Russian firm? Kaspersky denies it's a problem.

"The question is often asked by our resellers, but not customers," says Gunter Fuhrman, director of hosted security in Europe. "People don't care that much [that we're Russian]. People tell me they get sick of the American companies, and they're glad there's an alternative."

"For customers over here [in the UK], knowing we have infrastructure across France, Germany and the UK is important," adds Kerstin Reiners, head of marketing. "We won't be any longer just the small Russian outfit."