Microsoft Extends Security and Management Product Lines With Launch of Forefront Client Security.
Product launches represent delivery on Microsoft’s road map to providing Canadian business customers with integrated security and management solutions.
Mississauga, ON — May 2, 2007 - Microsoft Corp. today outlined its vision for integrated security and management solutions and announced delivery of key products under the Forefront™ and System Center brands. Microsoft will deliver deeper integration with its Forefront and System Center solutions to help customers simplify security management, improve the productivity of IT professionals and more closely align IT to the needs of their business. To help customers achieve this, Microsoft launched two new solutions built on the same management infrastructure: Microsoft® Forefront Client Security and Microsoft System Center Essentials 2007.
“Customers are under increasing pressure to manage the complexity of today’s Canadian business environment while protecting information against an ever-evolving array of threats,” said Derick Wong, Senior Product Manager, Security/Management, Microsoft Canada Co. “With Forefront and System Center, Microsoft is building integrated solutions on a common management infrastructure, thereby making it easier for organizations to help protect their IT assets and deliver high-quality service to their customers.”
Microsoft 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. Microsoft Forefront Client Security delivers critical visibility into threats and vulnerabilities through central management, and integrates with System Center solutions, Active Directory® directory services and other Microsoft technologies. Forefront Client Security has already achieved West Coast Labs Checkmark certification, a leading global standard that certifies information security products to real-world standards and Canadian customers are anticipating the full-scaled protection from both viruses and malware that Forefront Client Security offers their businesses.
“Many of our customers are very interested in the capabilities of Forefront Client Security, as security is key for their business,” said David Steeves, President and CEO, Steeves and Associates. “By providing Forefront Client Security, we can offer our clients the confidence that their systems are better protected against the various forms of malware, viruses and worms that could put critical corporate resources at risk.”
Microsoft Corp. today also announced the launch of System Center Essentials 2007, a unified management solution to help IT professionals in midsize organizations proactively and efficiently manage their IT environment. System Center Essentials 2007 provides the only unified solution to help simplify a broad set of tasks across the entire IT environment. The solution features a single console from which IT management can view and manage servers, clients, hardware, software and IT services.
Forefront and System Center solutions deliver 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. Canadian partners are already seeing the value it brings to their customers.
“Microsoft System Center Essentials provides a two-fold benefit to our business - it not only allows us to understand what we currently have constructed in our internal development environments, but enables us to leverage this knowledge to better serve our customers like Roy, Speed & Ross," said David Donnelly, Director of Applications Development Services, UNIS LUMIN. "Microsoft System Center Essentials allows us to monitor, troubleshoot, and pro-actively manage our customers' systems to maintain the high levels of service our clients have come to expect.”
Moving forward, deeper integration between Forefront and System Center offerings will help customers more dynamically address and enable key scenarios, including identity and access, change and configuration management, service management, problem resolution and reporting. Microsoft’s Infrastructure Optimization (IO) model, which charts a course for companies to transform IT infrastructure into a strategic business asset, shows how deeper integration between security and management solutions will benefit Canadian businesses of all sizes.
“As a growing, midmarket company, we don’t have the time or resources to effectively monitor our server environment on our own”, said Tracy White, Director of IT, Roy, Speed & Ross. “Microsoft System Center Essentials has provided with us with a unified management solution that helps make our operations more efficient, reduce troubleshooting time, and improve our planning capabilities, with minimal time and resources.”
For enterprise customers, 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 midmarket and smaller customers with IT professionals performing both security and management functions, the deeper integration between security and systems management solutions delivers a standard, integrated set of tools.
Product Information, Pricing and Availability
Forefront Client Security is 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 today as part of the Microsoft Enterprise Client Access License suite via Microsoft Volume Licensing, with stand-alone product availability in July via standard Microsoft volume licensing channels.
Microsoft System Center Essentials is offered as a management server with built-in support to manage 50 clients and 10 servers starting at $2,000. Customers can add up to 500 clients in increments of 20 or five Management Licenses (MLs), priced at $400 and $100 respectively, and up to 30 servers in increments of five and one ML, priced at $500 and $100 respectively. The product will be available in July via standard Microsoft volume licensing and retail channels. All prices are U.S. estimated retail prices.
About Microsoft Canada
Established in 1985, Microsoft Canada Co. is the Canadian subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq "MSFT"), the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. Microsoft Canada provides nationwide sales, marketing, consulting and local support services in both French and English. Microsoft Canada is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario with MSN.CA offices located in Toronto and eight regional offices across the country. The company supports local communities across Canada by creating innovative technology and partnerships that help people realize their full potential.
©2007 Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft, Forefront, Active Directory and Windows Server are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
