Companies that have yet to centralise the management of their antivirus software are exhausting their IT staff.

While the majority of firms have taken users out of the loop of updating antivirus software, those that have not are unable to cope due to the sheer volume of viruses, according to application switching vendor Radware.

"Users can't be trusted to do it themselves," said Tony Crowley, Radware's regional director for northern Europe.

"Companies are fighting a losing battle over antivirus updates unless they centralise antivirus management so that all network traffic is scanned in one place and management of updates is a discrete business function.

"Network-based antivirus management is becoming essential but organisations need to ensure that antivirus tools are always available and working with maximum efficiency.

"The need to manage all content security tools centrally at high throughputs has never been greater."

Nick Lawrence, managing director of FITE, a provider of outsourced IT support, which polled its UK customer base for the study, said that management of antivirus updates has become an immense drain on operational IT resources.

"Clients want a third-party service provider to ensure that all antivirus software is up to date, because doing so themselves takes up so much time and can leave them hopelessly exposed."