First Microsoft-Branded Antigen Products Ship

A year after Microsoft’s acquisition of Sybari in July 2005, new Microsoft-branded versions of certain Antigen antivirus and antispam products have been released. However, as Microsoft moves forward with new 2007-branded versions of its communication and collaboration servers (Exchange, SharePoint, and Live Communications), future versions will lose the Antigen name in favor of Microsoft’s new Forefront brand, which will also include Microsoft’s forthcoming client security product and next version of its existing Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server.

Sybari Update

When Microsoft acquired Sybari Software, among the assets it received was Sybari’s Antigen line of antivirus and antispam products for messaging and collaboration servers. These products are built around a Sybari technology called the Multiple Engine Manager (MEM) that can manage and coordinate several scanning engines with their associated signature files. This provides redundancy: a virus that compromises or gets past one antivirus scanner could be detected by other scanners with different signature files and scanning techniques. It also provides continuous protection: while one engine’s signature file is being updated, other engines continue to scan new content.