Road Runner ISP Adds Security Tools

Road Runner, a Time Warner Cable company, has announced an agreement with Computer Associates International to offer antivirus and firewall software to protect the computers of high-speed Internet customers.

The agreement enables Road Runner subscribers to use CA's ETrust EZ Armor antivirus and firewall desktop security suite at no charge, for as long as they subscribe to Road Runner's Internet service. Combining antivirus technology with industrial-strength firewall protection, CA's ETrust EZ Armor is designed to dramatically improve the safety of individual home PC use and greatly limit the proliferation of Internet threats. It normally retails for $50. The offer takes effect this week.

Spreading Security

CA's ETrust EZ Armor aims to leverage the company's enterprise security technologies, which are used by thousands of companies around the world to secure their businesses. Touted as easy to install and use, it provides automatic virus updates, advanced e-mail attachment protection, firewall settings, activity control to stop Web site monitoring, ad blocking, and cookie control features.

This is the second recent promotion of ETrust EZ Armor. In November, CA began offering the software free of charge with the purchase of a year's subscription to its antivirus definitions update service.

"The new Road Runner service has been developed so that customers can dramatically personalize the home page, enjoy truly localized content, and utilize effective, user-friendly security functionality from Computer Associates," says Jeff King, Road Runner president, in a statement. "We are pleased to be the first to provide broadband consumers with a residential broadband security solution from a known software leader in the commercial environment."

Service Touted

Time Warner delivers the Road Runner service to 3.5 million consumers and businesses through a combination of Road Runner's all fiber-optic national and regional networks, and the local cable operator's hybrid fiber-coaxial infrastructure. It is available in 54 major urban and suburban areas.

"Effective, easy-to-use security is vital to support the huge wave of consumer broadband users now coming online," says George Kafkarkou, senior vice president of CA's worldwide channel operations. "That is why Road Runner is making CA's ETrust EZ Armor an integral element of the total value proposition offered to its subscribers."

Trident Tek, a CA channel partner and supplier of software solutions to Road Runner, brought the two companies together.