Sprint Plans Service To Detect Viruses

Sprint plans to launch a virus-scanning service designed todetect viruses before they leave the Internet and enter a company's network. The service will be based on Trend Micro Inc.'s InterScan VirusWall software and be able to detect viruses traveling via HTTP, FTP, and SMTP.

The software will reside in the gateways that connect a company's network to the Internet, so viruses will be detected and eliminated before they can do any network damage.

Earlier this year, thousands of companies were hit by the Melissa virus and other viruses that spread through E-mail attachments. Sprint hopes that by detecting macro viruses and other malicious code before they reach intranets, these viruses won't spread so quickly.

Sprint plans the Internet gateway scanning service to be available this fall. Pricing for the service hasn't been determined.