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On Tuesday, Anti-Malware Test Lab and AV-Comparatives.org announced an alliance toward becoming one of the most respected sources of objective and independent information about antivirus products. Together they intend to create a unique system of integrated tests for determining the effectiveness of commercial antivirus software by the end of 2008.

Andrea Clementi, founder of AV-Comparatives, said in a statement that "the partnership with Anti-Malware Test Lab will allow us to evaluate more aspects of antivirus software and to offer users a more comprehensive independent view of various security products."

Clementi further hinted that if this alliance works out, there may be additional alliances of independent antivirus software-testing labs.

"I'm sure that our partnership will act as a driving force for the development of the industry as a whole," said Sergey Ilyin, founder of Anti-Malware Test Lab. Anti-Malware Test Lab is an independent Russian test laboratory, a subsidiary of Anti-Malware.ru. The laboratory is best known for testing active infection treatments, antivirus heuristics, and anti-rootkit protection.

This is the second partnership of antivirus-testing organizations in recent months. In January, various antivirus vendors and media outlets gathered in Spain to discuss creating an antivirus test standards group. That group includes F-Secure, Kaspersky Lab, McAfee, Panda Software, and Symantec, according to Andreas Marx, managing director of AV-Test.org.