Despite having 4,000 employees worldwide and around 1,400 workstations in the UK, The producer of premium range cookers and refrigerators for the domestic, commercial and bakery markets has IT operations which are predominantly subcontracted. The company recognised the need for a low maintenance security system that could be trusted to operate effectively across its extensive infrastructure, without the need for on-site expertise.
After a competitive tendering process the firm selected a multi-tier antivirus security system based on technology from UK firm Sophos. AFG is deploying Sophos Anti-Virus on its desktop computers and PureMessage at its email gateway to deliver virus detection, policy enforcement and content management.
"We already used Sophos Anti-Virus and PureMessage at one site and had been very impressed with its ease of manageability," said Dave Hounslow, AFG group IT manager.
With more than 1,000 new viruses now appearing in a typical month, AFG added it was attracted by the technology's convenient automatic updating capabilities.
The system was provided and installed by Sophos partner, faIT UK.
"As with many companies, AFG does not have a large on-site IT team," said Don Finley managing director of faIT UK.
"Because each of its subsidiaries work independently, they all have slightly different network configurations, making it a potentially complex infrastructure to manage without a viable solution."
