Washington Local Government Office Improves Productivity and Stretches Their Budget With Avg Anti-virus

Jeff Bush is the Applications and Network Systems Specialist for Grant County’s Technology Services division, based in Ephrata, Washington. He leads a five-member team that supervises a sprawling network of 600 workstations and 49 servers across the county’s 20 offices, agencies and departments in 12 different locations.

Grant County had been relying on Computer Associates (CA) Anti-Virus to protect the majority of the county’s offices, while the Department of Public Works used Panda Anti-Virus. It was this inconsistency of standards of protection that prompted Bush to begin considering a new approach to protection – one that would take a lot less resources to manage.

“We have a lot of network for five people to manage,” he said, “so I wanted to consolidate all of the county’s Internet security protection with a single solution. Using two different products with different detection methods and update cycles was really putting a strain on our resources.”

But the biggest driver for change, according to Bush, was the team’s frustration with technical support.

“We were having all kinds of problems with CA,” he recalled. “First, the software tried to take over our network! Then we were hit with a couple of viruses that made it past the initial defenses. CA eventually got rid of the viruses, but it caused us a lot of headaches along the way. It was bad enough that the viruses got through in the first place, but when they told us we needed to use two different scanning engines to eliminate the problem, I felt as if I was going insane.”

Continued Bush “I really lost it when CA’s technical support let us down at the worst possible time. We decided right then and there to start looking for a new anti-virus solution.”

Finding the Perfect Fit

Bush and his team conducted an exhaustive search for a solution that they could deploy across all of their facilities without breaking the bank.

“After researching and comparing all of the top-selling antivirus software products, we came to the conclusion that AVG would offer us the most complete solution for our needs,” he noted.

“I was already familiar with the home user version of AVG Anti-Virus, and I was pleased to find the same qualities of power, performance, and affordability in the network product. Plus, the remote administration capability makes it easy for us to manage all the workstations and servers from a single central location. That alone looked to be a tremendous time saver, given the number of physical locations we have.”

The next step Grant County was to identify an Authorized AVG Distributor they could work with to get the solution up and running with minimal disruption. The recommendation came back that Walling Data was the place to go.

Walling Data is the longest-standing and highest-volume distributor of AVG Technologies solutions in North America. It’s also the only distributor to offer all its customers – resellers and end-users - free, unlimited, U.S.-based pre- and post-sales support. In the light of his experience with CA, this was music to Bush’s ears

“Walling Data offered a healthy discount on AVG, and buying through them was painless,” he recalled. “And when I heard about the Free Support, we’d made the right choice. The reps were friendly and efficient. They walked us through the ordering process and we were all set and ready to roll with AVG in no time.”

Like Night and Day

Switching to AVG Network Edition 8.0 was a trouble-free experience for Jeff’s team. “The difference between AVG and CA or Panda is like night and day,” he said. “AVG is working out really well and we’ve had no issues with viruses hitting the network since we switched. The update process is also a lot easier to manage.”

Even better, switching to AVG has saved the department money. Added Bush: “There’s a huge price advantage for us to going with AVG over CA or Panda. We were able to save 20% over our previous costs.”

“I’ve not had to call for technical support yet, which is a good sign of the ways things are going to be with AVG, but it’s good to know that Free Support is available whenever I might need it. Plus, my brief experience in dealing with Walling Data convinced me that those guys are the real deal. If I ever need help, I know they’ll be ready and able to help me.”

Spreading the Word

AVG has had such a positive impact on Bush that he now recommends it to colleagues and even to his own family.

“For businesses, I recommend AVG over CA and Panda every time,” he said. “And I’ve used AVG Free Edition for the past seven years on my personal computer at home. I recommend the Free Edition to family and friends currently using other Anti-Virus software.

“Even if they say ‘But I already use Norton,’ I tell them to ditch it and get with the program. With Norton, you get a 60 day trial and then you have to start paying for the protection. The basic AVG protection is Free, and it works!"

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About Walling Data

Founded in 1994, N.C.-based Walling Data is a value-added technology distributor of technology products for resellers, small businesses, and education and government institutions. Walling Data was the nation’s first distributor of AVG security products and today is the highest-volume distributor for the product in North America, with more than 50,000 satisfied customers. Walling is also the only value-added distributor for Cymphonix Network Composer, an award-winning device that helps companies control and monitor users compliance with internet usage policies. Additionally, the company has recently become a distributor of CyberPatrol’s parental control and business-grade web filtering solutions. Walling Data provides free, unlimited, U.S.-based phone and “we-do-it-for-you” remote support for all of its customers. For more information, visit www.wallingdata.com and www.avg-antivirus.net

About AVG

Founded in 1991 and with offices in the US and Europe, AVG is a leading international developer of Internet threat protection solutions for consumers and SMBs. AVG is one of the fastest growing companies in the industry with more than 80 million active users around the world. The company employs some of the world’s leading experts in Internet security, specifically in the areas of threat research, analysis and detection. AVG’s award-winning products are distributed globally through resellers and over the Internet as well as via third parties through Software Developer’s Kits (SDK).