Convergent Computing

IT Firm Saves Money, Simplifies End-to-End Protection with Microsoft Security Solution

Founded in 1986, Convergent Computing (CCO) is a Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner that helps customers better manage their IT networks. In early 2006, CCO wanted to replace its multiple security products because they had become difficult to manage. As a participant in Microsoft early adoption programs, CCO had heard about the upcoming Microsoft Forefront™ family of security software. The company knew that Forefront would integrate easily into its IT environment, which is based on the Microsoft server product portfolio. After testing beta versions of the software, CCO implemented a comprehensive security solution including Microsoft Forefront Client Security. CCO now benefits from an integrated IT environment that requires less time to manage and saves money. And by deploying the software internally, the company gains expertise in supporting CCO customers who also use Forefront.

Situation

With our Forefront solution, we’re easily saving two to three person-days a year, and if the average senior consultant bills $300 an hour, that’s effectively a savings of $5,000 to $8,000 a year.  Rand Morimoto President Convergent Computing

Established in 1986 and headquartered in Oakland, California, Convergent Computing (CCO) is a Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner that helps midsize and large organizations design, implement, and support their local area, wide area, and enterprise networks. Specific services include IT design, migration and implementation, problem solving and debugging, and staff augmentation.

By participating in early adopter programs, CCO develops tips, tricks, and best practices for managing and deploying the latest IT infrastructure software, often two to three years before the products are publicly released. Because CCO serves a variety of businesses and business needs, its IT environment includes multiple operating systems and third-party applications. However, the company’s core IT infrastructure is standardized on the Windows Server® 2003 Enterprise Edition operating system and other Microsoft servers.

Security is very important to CCO. In early 2006, the company wanted to streamline IT administration by replacing its McAfee, Trend Micro, and Symantec security products with ones that could be better integrated into the Microsoft environment. CCO also wanted to more closely align its internal security software with the solutions that the company deploys and supports for its own customers.

“Our philosophy is to keep things secure by default,” says Rand Morimoto, President of Convergent Computing. “For any system, we say, ‘Install it securely, maintain it securely, and operate it securely.’ Unfortunately, our solution consisting of third-party security products didn’t contribute to this philosophy because they didn’t work well together and were hard to manage and update. In terms of support, licensing, patch management, and so on, we felt that a single-vendor solution would be much easier to handle.”

Solution

CCO was already familiar with a then-upcoming line of products that would both provide comprehensive security and simplify IT management. The Microsoft Forefront™ family of software helps protect and control the security of an organization’s entire network infrastructure. In particular, CCO knew that Microsoft Forefront Client Security guards personal and portable computers and server operating systems against spyware, rootkits, viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other emerging malware. CCO also believed that the software’s centralized management and integration with the Active Directory® service and Group Policy would be ideally suited to the company’s Windows®-based IT environment.

CCO began deploying Forefront Client Security in a test environment in March 2006 and then refined the solution over a six-month period. In September, the company rolled it out to a limited production environment. In December, CCO fully deployed the solution enterprisewide to the company’s 25 PCs, more than 100 portable computers, and 40 server computers. CCO also upgraded employee computers from Windows XP to the Windows Vista™ operating system because new security features in Windows Vista would further protect the company’s IT environment.

The solution includes other Microsoft software. Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server protects the enterprise messaging system, and Microsoft Forefront Security for SharePoint® protects SharePoint sites by filtering documents containing malicious code or other undesirable content. Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2006 is an integrated edge security gateway that protects the IT environment from Internet-based threats. Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 and System Center Operations Manager 2007 provide event and performance management and monitoring functions. Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 and System Center Configuration Manager 2007 simplify hardware and software asset management. Microsoft SQL Server™ 2005 database software provides business intelligence tools.

Benefits

With its Forefront solution in place, CCO enjoys an integrated IT environment that is easier and less costly to manage. The new solution also improves employee productivity and server efficiency by effectively reducing spam. And it provides end-to-end security protection, extending from the network edge, across servers, all the way to client computers where it complements security features built into Windows Vista.

Simplifies IT Management

With Forefront, we have a full security implementation that is easier to manage and maintain.  Rand Morimoto President Convergent Computing

The Microsoft Forefront solution ties together the security for client, server, edge, and other infrastructure components, simplifying administrative tasks. “Having multiple security applications from multiple vendors meant that licenses expired at different times, that updates were released at different times, and that the quality of support varied,” says Morimoto. “And the products worked differently and sometimes conflicted with each other. Now, we go to one place for updates, make one phone call for support instead of three or four, and negotiate all licenses at one time just once a year. With Forefront, we have a full security implementation that is easier to manage and maintain.”

Additionally, many IT tasks are now automated. Morimoto says, “Our administration is done through Windows Server Update Services, Systems Management Server, and Group Policy, and all of our reporting is done through SQL Server Reporting Services. Forefront Client Security integrates seamlessly with these technologies and complies directly with our existing administration practices. We’ve added Forefront Client Security to our standard disk image, and we have an automated ongoing update system, so we don’t have to deploy the software manually. It’s a very efficient system.

“Also, we now have a single, automated process for generating a security report that includes the status of our software and server updates and an intrusion assessment. In the past, a similar report would have required using three or four tools and then manually comparing and consolidating them.”

Saves Time and Money

Because CCO is a small company, some of the consultants who serve customers also contribute to internal IT administration part-time. The simplified IT management that the Forefront solution offers makes more time available for these consultants to work on other tasks. “Now that we’re using Forefront, we don’t have to set up a server for Microsoft software, plus another server for Symantec, another server for McAfee, and so on,” says Morimoto. “We spend less time maintaining the environment and more time running our business. This is a huge business advantage.”

The timesavings translates into saved money. “Because our IT staffers are also consultants for customers, any time they spend on internal IT work is an opportunity cost in lost consulting billings,” Morimoto adds. “With our Forefront solution, we’re easily saving two to three person-days a year, and if the average senior consultant bills $300 an hour, that’s effectively a savings of $5,000 to $8,000 a year.”

Effectively Filters Spam, Improves Productivity

“We get about 25,000 messages a day, of which only about 1,000 are legitimate,” says Morimoto. “In the past, we had to scan all 25,000 of them for spam and viruses. But now, using the Edge Transport server role in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 in combination with Forefront Security for Exchange Server, we can remove 70–75 percent of the spam before the scanning process. This allows us to do better filtering, helps us manage our servers better, and improves message and account control.

“Our users previously got 10 to 30 spam messages a day,” he adds. “Today they get about three. Users are better able to find and respond to the messages that are critical, which means they’re working more productively.”

Improves IT Efficiency Through Easy Integration

A key advantage of the solution is that the individual Forefront products easily integrate with each other and with the overall IT environment. “Forefront works alongside everything else we have in our Microsoft environment, and that helps us do our work better,” says Morimoto. “For example, Forefront Client Security communicates with Operations Manager to provide centralized reporting. That means we can now track user security. Before, we weren’t doing any security management at the user level. Forefront also works easily with Systems Management Server for updates, inventory control, and device management. And of course Forefront provides integrated security with Exchange Server and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.”

Additionally, CCO uses Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) to protect its information assets. ISA Server 2006 supports this authentication system and also integrates with Forefront Client Security to provide a more effective and secure authentication solution. Morimoto adds, “We used to have a server running third-party RADIUS software, in addition to a server running ISA Server 2004 and a front-end server running Exchange Server 2003. With our new security solution, we combined the three servers into one. And the solution integrates authentication policies at the network perimeter. The result is that we have better security out of the box, with just one server, than we had before with three servers.”

Complements Windows Vista for End-to-End Security

“Forefront Client Security complements the security features in Windows Vista,” says Morimoto. “This complementary relationship supports our philosophy of having security be a fundamental part of an IT system, instead of a separate add-on or afterthought. It also makes sense to deploy the two products together, as we now do with all new computer disk images. The more that security can be rolled out in a single process, the better we like it.”

CCO is impressed with the security model that Windows Vista supports. Morimoto says, “We used to have to make many configuration changes to properly secure our systems. Now, with Windows Vista and Forefront Client Security, built-in features and default settings provide security from the start. For example, with the User Account Control, we can restrict users from making harmful system changes but still give them the flexibility to install some of their own software.

“We had a reasonably secure environment before,” concludes Morimoto. “But now, with our Forefront solution and a security strategy based on a common Microsoft foundation, we have true end-to-end protection using integrated Microsoft tools.”

For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com

For more information about Convergent Computing products and services, call (510) 444-5700 or visit the Web site at:
www.cco.com

Microsoft Forefront Product Portfolio

The Microsoft® Forefront™ comprehensive line of business security products provides greater protection and control through integration with your existing IT infrastructure and through simplified deployment, management, and analysis. Forefront is a comprehensive solution that helps provide protection for the client operating system, application servers, and the network edge.

For more information about the Forefront product portfolio, go to:
www.microsoft.com/forefront 

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. 

Document published March 2007