Anti-virus experts from around the world will converge on Auckland next month for the annual AVAR (Association of Anti Virus Asia Researchers) conference. Geoff Cossey, Chillisoft managing director, has been planning the event for the last few months. “At a commercial level the AV industry is extremely competitive but at a technical level – which is where AVAR sits – it’s about sharing knowledge,” he says. Cossey says the size of the conference, around 200 attendees, means delegates have the opportunity to put questions to vendors through numerous networking opportunities.And, as he points out, there isn’t exactly a plethora of similar events in this part of the world.Randy Abrams, AVAR chairman, says the conference is a conduit for information sharing and building of cooperative relationships.Abrams says exposure to this level of information, combined with networking, is invaluable. “When it comes to anti-virus there is no silver bullet, the closest you can get is an educated person,” he says. Researchers from vendors such as McAfee, Symantec, Trend Micro and Microsoft will be speaking at the event and Abrams says resellers, IT professionals, educators and legislators will get a lot out of it.Seattle-based Abrams believes AVAR conferences are a great experience. “I’ve been to a variety of security conferences but AVAR is a rare gem. It’s quite inexpensive and yet offers unbelievable access to researchers. If you want to take smart people and put them in a great environment then AVAR is it.”