McAfee released a new tool that helps small and midsize businesses centralize management of protection against viruses and spyware. The tool, dubbed the McAfee ProtectionPilot, was unveiled Wednesday and is part of the new McAfee SMB Editions product suites. According to David Roberts, senior vice president of channels for North America at the Santa Clara, Calif.-based vendor, the new product will be sold exclusively through the channel.

"This is designed to make it easy for channel partners to get into managed services for the small- and medium-size business market," he said. "As we looked at the needs of the SMB customer, we realized that it was best to let our channel partners help them out."

Specifically, the ProtectionPilot gives customers a graphical dashboard that coordinates realtime virus and spyware information from all over the network. It also boasts a threat information monitor that automatically shows emerging viruses of medium and higher importance as identified by McAfee AVERT.

Roberts added that the product includes added support for McAfee Anti-Spyware Enterprise, which offers SMBs protection against unwanted programs such as adware, spyware, dialers, keyloggers and cookies.

On a larger scale, the McAfee SMB Editions product suites also include McAfee Active VirusScan SMB Edition, which provides centrally managed virus protection for desktops and file servers, and McAfee Active Virus Defense SMB Edition, which provides virus and content protection for e-mail. Both products leverage McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.0i, which integrates next-generation antivirus technology with elements of intrusion prevention and firewall technology into a single system security solution.

The McAfee ProtectionPilot is available now. Pricing was not available.