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Microsoft officially gets into the security business

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CIOL Bureau
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Redmond, Washington-based software giant, Microsoft, announced the launch of Forefront Client Security at a security product launch event themed "You're In Control" at Beverly Hills. It also announced the System Center Essentials 2007.

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Microsoft's Forefront Client Security is designed to help protect business desktops, laptops and server operating systems from viruses, spyware, Trojans and other current and emerging threats.

"Over the last five years, we've done a lot of investment in fundamentally securing our platform, and in the last couple of years we've increased our investments in terms of building a set of security products that augment that platform, and are focused on providing a more complete solution for businesses, said Bob Muglia, senior vice president, Server and Tools Business at Microsoft.publive-image

"That's a big deal, Microsoft entering the security marketplace, the security business. We've had some security products in the marketplace for some time, but with this launch, spreading around the world, we're really saying that Microsoft is making a long-term commitment to providing a complete security solution for businesses," he added in his keynote address to business customers and partners.

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Muglia pointed out that customers are under increasing pressure to manage the complexity of today's business environment while protecting information against an ever-evolving array of threats. "With Forefront and System Center, we are building integrated solutions on a common management infrastructure, thereby making it easier for organizations to protect their IT assets and deliver high-quality service to their customers," he said.

The Forefront Client Security had already achieved West Coast Labs Checkmark certification, a global standard that certifies information security products to real-world standards.

Outlining Microsoft's vision for integrated security and management solutions, Muglia described how Microsoft was delivering deeper integration with its Forefront and System Center solutions to help customers simplify security management, improve productivity of IT professionals and more closely aligning IT to the needs of their business.

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"Forefront is an IT professional's Product"

           -Margaret Arakawa, senior director of Security and Access Product Management at Microsoft

Is Forefront interoperable with other operating systems?

So far our client security is for Windows clients, whether it's XP or Vista. But we hope to extend it to other platforms. One great thing about interoperability is that since Forefront was built on System Center products, System Center actually has the capability to manage different types of operating systems, be a partner to build pacts to allow you to manage Linux, Unix or Mainframes.publive-image

What technology do you use for the security devices? Is it based on SSL-VPN, or other end-point security?

Forefront actually aligns business security products. It includes client security, server security products. The Forefront Security for Exchange and SharePoint includes the edge security products like ISA server and IAG, and IAG is a VPN product. They will all be revamped as Forefront.

We have been speaking about the convergence of security and systems management. What about people and cultural aspects?

We don't believe that enterprise customers are going to change dramatically. There will always be IT people or systems management people whose sole job is to ensure that servers and desktops are up and running. There will be security experts also. Our customers feel they do not need two infrastructures. They want a single infrastructure that leverages the skills of both the sides. They wanted Microsoft to build a common infrastructure for management and security.

How has the response been so far to Forefront Client Security?

It has been very good. We already have nine case studies from customers who are very committed to go with our client security. MSIT, Microsoft's IT department, has committed to deploy Client Security on 50,000 desktops. You know, ours is one the most heavily attacked infrastructure in the world-hackers are always trying to attack our clients or servers. We are seeing good response from a wide range of customers, who want to reduce costs and get information faster.

Will organizations have to replace their investments to rollout Forefront Client Security?

There are companies who have client security solutions in place already. They evaluate what they can buy. We talk to them very extensively. Today, they have basically helped us build this product: we talk to them about what they think of the current solution, what they would like to see improved, who would they like to see the improvements from, etc. They feel Forefront Client Security will enable them to save time and money, and enable them to get information faster.

Which is the target segment for Forefront Client Security?

We are looking at customers from the mid-market through enterprise, in the small business space where customers do not have enough IT staff to manage the desktops and servers. And the Forefront product is an IT professional's product. The same technology is able to scale from a mid-market customer to a very large customer.

Microsoft said the delivery of new products under the Forefront and System Center brands were in line with the new industry trend, the convergence of security and systems management. This trend was being driven by a customer need to better manage the complexities of modern-day business, and to protect systems against a fast-evolving threat landscape.

"This convergence is about enabling a greater level of common infrastructure across security and management, and providing tools that help meet the needs of both the security and management IT staff," said Bob Kelly, general manager, Microsoft.

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A Common Platform

Microsoft termed System Center Essentials 2007 as a unified management solution to help IT professionals in midsize organizations proactively and efficiently manage their IT environment. The solution featured a single console from which IT management could view and manage servers, clients, hardware, software and IT services.

Muglia provided examples of how Forefront and System Center solutions delivered greater integration to help customers simplify the task of deploying, managing and protecting IT environments, and improve overall productivity of IT staff and end users.

He showed how deeper integration between Forefront and System Center offerings would help customers more dynamically address and enable key scenarios, including identity and access, change and configuration management, service management, problem resolution and reporting. He used the context of the Microsoft's Infrastructure Optimization (IO) model, which charts a course for companies to transform IT infrastructure into a strategic business asset, to show how deeper integration between security and management solutions will benefit businesses of all sizes.

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On the Sidelines...

Is Indian outsourcing going to lose its edge to technology?

Speaking on outsourcing work overseas to India or China, Bob Muglia said it was not going to be a lasting solution for reducing costs.publive-image

"We think that through technology and through software, we can fundamentally change the dynamics of our environment. There's a lot of ways to reduce cost. You can reduce cost by outsourcing things to India or China, and that will work for a while. There's a lot to be said for that, and I know many companies have done that for some part of their operation, but, ultimately, that won't be a way that you can contribute to reduce cost, especially as those parts of the world begin to become more expensive in the years to come," he added.

Muglia believed software could, from a long-term perspective, transform the IT system, reducing costs, and enabling new solutions.

Not So, Says India

According to Nasscom, however, India would benefit from a boom in offshore outsourcing. It estimated the country's software and services exports to grow by 32.6% to over $31 bn in the current Indian fiscal. Also that employment in the sector was likely to reach 1.6 mn by March 31, up from 1.28 mn in 2006.

India's top outsourcing companies, TCS, Infosys, and Wipro reported strong growth in revenue and profits for the financial year ended March 31, 2007, mainly on increased volumes of business.

A report recently released by management consulting firm McKinsey & Co and Nasscom predicted that India's outsourcing industry could grow at an annual rate of over 25% to generate export revenue of about $60 bn by 2010. To get to this revenue, however, India will have to improve the quality of education and train more staff to counter an expected shortage of 500,000 staff by 2010, added Nasscom.

Meanwhile, a survey released on Sunday by Mintel International Group suggested that a few major UK firms could take back their telephone operations back to Britain. However, this move was attributed to cultural misunderstandings and concerns over quality of service from offshore call centers rather than rising expenses in India.

For enterprise customers, Muglia detailed how security and management solutions will be unified through a common service management solution, enabling workflow definition, process automation, and comprehensive reporting across security and management teams.

For mid-market and smaller customers with IT professionals performing both security and management functions, he described how deeper integration between security and systems management solutions would provide a standard, integrated set of tools.

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Microsoft said the new products were a "great foundation and framework" for its long-term plans around the integration of security and management.

"Our engineering teams are working together to build out solutions that are more deeply integrated and address specific needs of companies of all sizes-from small- and mid-sized businesses to large enterprises," said Kelly.

According to Scott Crawford, senior analyst with Enterprise Management Associates, "Security and IT operations professionals are demanding more effective integration of solutions in both domains and the benefits of improved risk management and efficiencies that integration brings. Microsoft's plans to more closely align its System Center management solutions with its Forefront security products offer an integrated approach in line with this demand."

Meanwhile, Analog Devices said it had used System Center management solutions to roll out Forefront Client Security in half of its 6,000 desktops and laptops. It would be deployed on the rest of the machines in the next few weeks.

Microsoft said Forefront Client Security was licensed on a per-user, per-device basis, starting at $12.72 per user or device, per year for the security agent and at $2,468 per year for the management console. The product is available for purchase now, as part of Microsoft Enterprise Client Access License suite via Microsoft Volume Licensing, with stand-alone product availability in July via standard Microsoft volume licensing channels.

Microsoft is offering System Center Essentials as a management server with built-in support to manage 50 clients and 10 servers starting at $2,000. Microsoft said the product would be available in July via Microsoft volume licensing and retail channels.

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