PC Management Solution Provider Prefix Unveils USB Guard for Blocking Unwanted USB Drive Usage on Any PC Network

Prefix Ltd. (www.prefixit.com), the leader in Total PC Management, announced today the addition of USB Guard to the latest release of its flagship PC management software solution, PrefixNE 2.2. PrefixNE is an IT Management tool that provides IT professionals with complete control over their personal computer (PC) network environments. Incredibly powerful, yet simple to use, PrefixNE is designed to meet the highly specific requirements of small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs).
With the proliferation of external storage devices, IT managers need to find an easy way to control the flow of sensitive information from their networks to USB (universal serial bus) connected drives and from there, out of their workplaces. USB Guard, part of PrefixNE's policy enforcement toolkit, centrally prevents the USB ports on a network-attached desktop PC or laptop PC from activating any external mass storage devices, unless expressly authorised. The functionality is managed from PrefixNE's application-based console that is accessible by the IT manager from any PC computer on the network, allowing constant pc remote control by a single technician, even in a multi-site office environment.
"Computer usage has become so ubiquitous, even for small non-technical companies, that an SME-level network management solution was desperately needed," explained Darren Rockman, managing director of Prefix. "Prefix understands their challenges and we created PrefixNE to deliver total PC management from a single console, helping to make IT managers more effective in their day to day operations and keep their networks at optimum efficiency."
SMEs are established or growing companies with limited technical resources to manage their computer and server environments. Companies may only have a small number of dedicated IT professionals available to assist several hundred computer users, with very little time to effectively manage the network. Large network management solutions with product and consulting components are much too expensive and complex to operate for an SME to consider, leaving the SME sector without adequate network monitoring tools for effective PC management. PrefixNE offers IT managers a cost effective, comprehensive suite of powerful tools to take control of all of the PCs in their network from a unified console. This saves the IT manager's time and can almost eliminate journeys between multiple offices to fix often simple, network-related computer problems.
PrefixNE enables IT professionals to control all the PCs in the network from a single point of administration. PrefixNE combines a broad array of functionality, including:
* Group Management – IT managers can instruct PrefixNE to modify any group of PCs in a single keystroke, including software uploads, software update, install patch and registry fixes.

* Real Time Alerts – an Alert Bar provides real time notification of software of hardware modifications, or repeated system alerts. These alerts can be set to automatically notify IT managers of critical problems with SMS messages to mobile phones, beepers, pagers or via e-mail.
* Policy Enforcement – PrefixNE prevents the opening of hazardous or unwanted applications (like peer to peer (P2P) software), from being mistakenly or intentionally closed and can stop file sharing creation.
* Online Help Desk - support queries are logged and dealt with in a structured fashion through PrefixNE's simple but effective, network-wide help desk management software.
* PC inventory - PrefixNE provides IT managers with real-time hardware and software inventory management solution, and software license tracking.
About Prefix Ltd.
Prefix IT Ltd develops and markets Total PC Management software to IT professionals and Managed Service Providers. Prefix products offer small and medium sized businesses (SME) with the broad functionality only available until now to large enterprises. Prefix products adhere to three key values to suit the SME environment: simplicity, power and professional excellence. The company was founded in 2004, in order to provide powerful PC Management software to IT professionals in SMEs and already includes UK and US publicly traded companies among its growing customer base.
Prefix IT is backed by a group of investors advised by Goldman Investments. The antecedents of Goldman Investments go back to the late David Goldman, founder and Executive Chairman of the Sage Group plc (LSE: SGE). In more recent times, Goldman Investments has been closely involved in the development and, in 2004, listing of Invu (AIM: NVUK), a leading European document management software company. For more information about Prefix, please visit the company website at, www.prefixit.com.
Company Contact:



Darren Rockman




Prefix Ltd.




+44 (20) 7404 8629







Press Contact:
Daniel Epstein
Summit Advantage
+44 (20) 8150 6851

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