“Last week it was announced that Microsoft has signed an agreement to acquire the IPR and technology assets pertaining to RAV AntiVirus from GeCAD, leaving many RAV users and Resellers in a quandary.
Whilst it is not 100% clear (perhaps not even 100% decided) what Microsoft plans to do with the technology, notice has been given that RAV products will be discontinued.
However, every cloud has its silver lining and many are just beginning to realize that great positives will undoubtedly arise from the removal of a market leading product for the Open Source community with a number of vendors rushing to fill the void.
NetFreighters Australia Pty Ltd, Australian Distributors of RAV, are experiencing heightened interest in RAV products. There was an initial lull in incoming enquiries but now we are flat out, says Vivienne Smith, NetFreighters Sales Account Manager for RAV. Current RAV customers are rushing to take advantage of more renewals at RAVs incredibly low renewal prices. And those whove been considering RAV are rushing to finalise their evaluation and approval processes to ensure they can buy the product whilst its still available for purchase. All these users will receive their updates and technical support from GeCAD just as before, leaving them another 12 months to see what the competition produces and to budget for a cross-grade
NetFreighters have already been approached by several vendors looking to grab RAVs market share in Australia and New Zealand. Whilst we are not yet satisfied there is a comparable replacement for RAVs features and pricing, we are confident that one is not too far away, asserted Glenn Lake, Director of NetFreighters.
RAV has cornered its own niche market with its offerings for the Linux/Unix mail server environment on account of two major advantages:
1. RAV for mail servers provides state-of-the-art antivirus, anti-spam and content filtering all in one fully supported and integrated application
2. RAVs extremely flexible pricing system is unbeatable value for anyone from a small business with 1-2 domains and a handful of mailboxes to ISPs and ASPs scanning hundreds of thousands of mailboxes.
Lets not underestimate RAVs competition. Our initial discussions with several vendors have indicated that plans to develop products to match RAVs features particularly the integrated anti-virus and anti-spam technology are already on the drawing board. And we have already seen evidence of exceptional cross-grade pricing offers Mr Lake continued. Representing the entire RAV market in Australia and New Zealand, we expect to secure a relationship relatively quickly with a vendor capable of meeting the needs of RAVs users. We are undertaking a thorough evaluation of current software and pushing the issues of future development and flexible licensing. We believe we can provide our customers with a smooth transition, continuing our distribution of best-of-breed antivirus/antispam products
In the meantime, NetFreighters are continuing to offer RAV products so customers can take advantage of the current product and future cross-grade offers. In our opinion, its still the best product, with the best breadth of platform compatibility available, pricing models and feature sets on the market today. The low cost of RAV, combined with future cross-grade discounts will offset the cost of rolling out an alternative in a years time, Ms Smith reiterated. Especially for customers renewing current RAV subscriptions, this is an absolute no-brainer!
NetFreighters can be contacted on
1300 304 007 (Australia)
+61 3 8561 5533 (international callers)
Email: sales@netfreighters.com.au
www.netfreighters.com.au
About NetFreighters Australia Pty Ltd
NetFreighters Australia is the National distributor of RAV AntiVirus products within Australia. NetFreighters provides convenient domestic purchasing (in AUD$) and prompt, friendly technical support (email and phone local call Australia-wide) for RAV AntiVirus products. NetFreighters can also supply RAV products to customers and resellers in New Zealand. More: http://www.netfreighters.com.au“
Link: netfreighters.com.au
