McAfee is making a virtual trial of its McAfee Secure Internet Gateway appliance available to organisations as part of a free 30-day software trial.

Aimed at medium-sized enterprises, McAfee Secure Internet Gateway is an integrated web and email security appliance designed to help companies fend off spam, viruses, spyware and malicious websites.

Other features include the ability to block 98 per cent of existing spam, including hard-to-detect image spam, according to the company. The software also features McAfee anti-virus and anti-spyware technology and McAfee SiteAdvisor, designed prevent users from visiting websites laden with spyware, phishing scams, or spamming agents.

In addition, McAfee Secure Internet Gateway will offer the company’s ePolicy Orchestrator allowing users to manage their gateway, desktop and mail server protection from a central location.

"For the first time, customers can try a spam-filtering appliance through the download of a virtual software file, to see how it performs relative to their current anti-spam solution," said Jack Marsal, director of product marketing for McAfee.

"We're giving customers the opportunity to experience the benefits of McAfee Secure Internet Gateway on their own server, before making an investment in an appliance."

Technical support is to be made available to customers on a selective basis. Only 'qualified' users actively participating in the evaluation of the product will be offered support during the 30-day trial period.