Trend Micro is ratcheting up its support for Linux with the upcoming release of InterScan VirusWall 5.0 (ISVW), currently entering beta testing. InterScan VirusWall is an all-in-one antivirus, anti-spam and content security solution geared toward small- and medium-sized businesses.

Along with numerous enhancements to its portfolio of features, the product touts a simplified configuration manager intended to reduce day-to-day maintenance for organizations with scarce IT resources.

To combat the ever present and costly nuisance of unsolicited e-mail, Trend Micro developers dropped a new anti-spam engine into VirusWall. The filter is customizable and can be configured from low to high threshold levels; monitoring incoming SMTP and POP3 traffic. The product's other layers of prevention are targeted at malware.

Trend Micro's heuristics-based antivirus engine scans network traffic to detect and remove incoming files that may be harmful to a network. VirusWall can also be configured to shut out specific file types. The product monitors SMTP, POP3, HTTP, and FTP traffic, and will even work to prevent denial of service attacks.

If the powers that be label certain Web or FTP sites as threats, ISVW can be configured to prohibit access in accordance to corporate policy. In addition, Trend Micro claims that its software can bar content that is deemed offensive and inappropriate for the workplace.

The supported distributions of Linux are: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 and 3.0, SuSe 9, and United Linux 1.0 (including TurboLinux 8).

Testers can apply to participate in the ISVW beta by filling out the prerequisite questions at Trend Micro's Beta site