Labs

At first glance, Kaspersky Labs' Corporate Suite looks to offer top value, as it includes virtually every anti-virus tool most networks are likely to need, as well as support for Linux, Exchange and Lotus Notes. Not only that, it brings them all together under a single Network Control Centre (NCC) management utility. The interface is initially quite daunting, but it allows you to create groups to represent your logical network, with each group requiring a control server to look after all included workstations.

Workstation and server deployment is simple - you add one of the supplied predefined packages to the NCC, check all the workstations in the network view alongside that are to receive it and run the job. However, you can only push anti-virus programs to NT, 2000 and XP systems - 95, 98 and ME must

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have the software deployed locally or via a login script. From the NCC, you're able to monitor individual systems, modify their settings and remotely run manual scans on multiple workstations simultaneously.

Automatic definition updates are a little trickier to set up, but once again there are plenty of options, because the management server is used to download updates from the Web. You can then either push the software to groups of workstations or allow them to pull it from the server at regular intervals. Program updates are dealt with in a similar manner, and a separate quarantine area may be created on the server to which dubious files are sent.

Workstation users can be allowed to interact with the local copy of the software, but transparency isn't an option, since Kaspersky insists on installing different utilities for scanning, updating, monitoring and scripting. If a workstation is in trouble, its icon changes to warn you, but notification options are probably the weakest area of the Corporate Suite. Warning messages are limited to a network broadcast and email, and the contents of the messages generated aren't overly informative - they don't even state what virus caused the alarm. However, a wide range of extra features make up for this, with tools such as virus outbreak monitoring supported as standard, whereas companies like Trend Micro expect you to pay more for this.