4-page Case Study - Posted 1/30/2008

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Del Monte Foods

Food Company Improves Protection with Easily Managed, Comprehensive Solution

California-based Del Monte Foods sells popular branded food and pet products in grocery stores and other outlets across the United States. Recently, the company’s work force has grown, which means messaging and collaboration has played an increasingly important role for Del Monte employees, who use Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 and Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007 to communicate. To improve protection of its information and management of these technologies, Del Monte deployed Microsoft Forefront™ Security for Exchange Server and Forefront Security for SharePoint, Microsoft Forefront Server Security Management Console, and Microsoft System Center Operations Manager. These combined products offer Del Monte easy deployment, solid antivirus protection, and centralized control of the IT environment.

Situation

The Forefront products and Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 fit seamlessly with our existing security technologies.... That capitalizes and extends our existing investment in Windows-based security.  Jonathan Wynn Manager of Advanced Technology and Collaborative Services Del Monte Foods

The company has a peak employment of 17,600 people, including 7,800 salaried and 9,800 seasonal employees. Del Monte bases its IT infrastructure on Microsoft® products and technologies, including the Windows Server® 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition operating system and the Active Directory® service.

For the past several years, the Del Monte Foods work force has increasingly come to rely on new Microsoft technology, which means that messaging and collaboration technology has played an increasingly important role. “We have an increasingly dispersed work force, and we need to ensure that our critical systems do not have downtime, so these people can maximize their productivity,” says Jonathan Wynn, Manager of Advanced Technology and Collaborative Services, Del Monte Foods.

In addition to e-mail communication using Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, employees also use Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007 to share presentations internally and with business partners. “Exchange Server and SharePoint Server are both very heavily used environments,” says Wynn. “Close to 50 gigabytes of data is sent through the computer running Office SharePoint Server 2007 every day.” All traffic entering or leaving the SharePoint site runs through a pair of load-balanced computers running Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2006.

Because of the critical nature of this messaging and collaboration environment, system security has become very important for Del Monte. Spam constitutes up to 60 percent of the company’s incoming mail, and viruses, worms, and other malware are constant threats. “We have employees constantly uploading and downloading documents on SharePoint sites. It is vital that we are able to easily secure our server computers running Exchange Server and SharePoint Server,” Wynn says.

To stay ahead of these security threats,
Del Monte had used several security software solutions, such as Microsoft Antigen for Exchange Server. Antigen became a crucial element in the company’s defense against e-mail security threats. “We were impressed with Antigen’s ability to protect against e-mail viruses,” says Wynn.

However, managing this IT infrastructure had become challenging for the Del Monte IT department. “We have thousands of employees in multiple locations, and like any other IT shop, we have limited resources to manage our complex IT Infrastructure,” says Wynn. “That means we’re all incredibly busy managing different aspects of that environment.”

As Del Monte continued to expand its infrastructure, the company realized it wanted an upgraded solution that built on its success with Antigen to help effectively protect and manage its complex IT environment.

Solution

In early 2006, Del Monte learned about Microsoft Forefront™ Security for Exchange Server, a comprehensive software security solution that helps protect Exchange Server messaging environments from viruses, worms, spam, and other threats. Forefront Security for Exchange Server is the successor to the Microsoft Antigen solution that Del Monte already used. “We were looking for a solution that gave us the same great protection we received from Antigen,” says Wynn. “Forefront Security for Exchange Server was that solution.”

Del Monte felt secure in its decision to move to Forefront Security for Exchange Server, which is certified by ICSA* Labs.  The solution provides comprehensive protection by integrating multiple engines from industry-leading vendors. It also provides in-depth file and keyword filtering, and optimized antivirus performance for the Exchange Server 2007 environment. In addition, Del Monte can use the solution to simplify management and control of Exchange Server security. “I knew it was right for our business,” says Wynn. “We had a great experience with Antigen, and I knew that Microsoft was only going to make it better with the Forefront release.”

Wanting to extend protection to its growing collaboration environment, Del Monte also implemented Forefront Security for SharePoint to ensure that corporate documents are safe before being saved to or accessed from the Del Monte SharePoint document library. “There’s always the risk that someone will upload an infected file from his home laptop or that we’ll get a virus from an external partner sending us documents,” says Wynn. Like Forefront Security for Exchange Server, Forefront Security for SharePoint uses multiple scan engines and provides content controls to help businesses protect their SharePoint collaboration servers from documents containing malicious code, confidential information, and inappropriate content. The technology is also currently the only SharePoint antivirus solution certified by ICSA Labs.

Several months after securing its SharePoint environment, Del Monte decided to implement Microsoft System Center IT management solutions to improve control over the performance and health of messaging and collaboration servers. Microsoft System Center includes Microsoft Operations Manager 2005, which Del Monte IT administrators can use to track event and performance monitors across all operating systems and applications in the IT infrastructure. Operations Manager also provides access to more than 50 management packs for Microsoft products, including the Forefront line of business security products.

Finally, in June 2007, Del Monte was introduced to a new management solution that comprehensively ties the company’s existing Forefront security products together: Microsoft Forefront Server Security Management Console. Using this Web-based console, Del Monte IT administrators can centrally configure and operate Forefront Security for Exchange Server and Forefront Security for SharePoint. Administrators can also seamlessly automate signature updates across all Forefront server security products, as well as provide comprehensive reporting and outbreak alerts.

Another important feature in Forefront Server Security Management Console is automatic discovery of new servers running Exchange Server, which allows administrators to identify and add security protections to new servers found in the environment. Del Monte decided to implement this new solution to manage its growing family of Forefront security products.

Del Monte chose to license all of these new products as part of the Microsoft Enterprise Client Access Licensing (ECAL) Suite. Security products in the ECAL Suite include Forefront Security for Exchange Server, Forefront Security for SharePoint, and Forefront Client Security. “ECAL was the right fit for our three-year security management road map,” says Wynn. “With ECAL, we were able to implement the right Microsoft technology, and then add the right security products to supplement that technology, without having to acquire another solution.” 

Benefits

The new Del Monte security and management solution is easy to deploy and provides the company with effective antivirus protection. The solution also gives Del Monte administrators a centralized view of the IT environment. And because of the combined products’ seamless integration with the Del Monte infrastructure, the organization now has a comprehensive way to manage security and monitor its entire infrastructure.

Installing and configuring the software was a no brainer. Forefront Security for SharePoint is very easy to set up. The administrative console gives you a complete view of your environment at all times.  Jonathan Wynn Manager of Advanced Technology and Collaboration Del Monte Foods

Easy Deployment and Configuration

Del Monte quickly got its new security and management solution for messaging and collaboration up and running. “Installing and configuring the software was a no brainer. Forefront Security for SharePoint is very easy to set up,” Wynn says. “The administrative console gives you a complete view of your environment at all times. You just choose the scan engines and a few other parameters, and you’re ready to rock and roll.”

Additionally, Forefront Server Security Management Console gives Wynn an easy way to manage other tasks. “Using Forefront Server Security Management Console, I can easily deploy updates, report on security, and schedule tasks,” he says. “Those things used to be challenging because we have such a small staff and we have to manage a global IT security environment. It’s very simple now.”

Effective Antivirus Protection

The new Forefront products give Del Monte multiple antivirus engines from around the world, which provide global system protection 24 hours a day, every day of the week. “We now have excellent security for our Exchange Server e-mail messages and our SharePoint documents,” says Wynn. “The scan engines are updating continuously, so no matter which is first to address a new threat, it’s going to be incorporated into the solution.” By using its new Forefront products, Del Monte is also helping to protect the 400,000-plus weekly e-mail messages it receives—a mission-critical task for the IT department. During the first seven months after deploying Forefront Security for Exchange Server, the company had only 15 minutes of Exchange Server downtime, which translates to about 99.99 percent uptime.
 
Protection is also improved with Forefront Server Security Management Console, which gives Del Monte outbreak response features such as warnings when server computers running Exchange Server and Office SharePoint Server 2007 are under attack. “Fortunately, we have not had any virus outbreaks here,” says Wynn. “But if an outbreak did occur, I have a much better way to handle it because of Forefront Server Security Management Console.”

Centralized View of Environment

The new Del Monte solution also gives the company a more centralized view of the IT environment. For example, Wynn can use Operations Manager 2005 to more effectively monitor IT systems in general. In addition, the Operations Manager 2005 management packs provide administrators with centralized management of the new Forefront products. “With the Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 management packs, we can easily manage Forefront for Exchange Server and Forefront for SharePoint, while effectively monitoring the Active Directory service and all our other important systems,” Wynn says. “I now have a full view into everything and an easy way to monitor security and general system health and performance.”

Wynn can also rely on Forefront Server Security Management Console to provide a complete overview of all Forefront products. “With Forefront Server Security Management Console, I can see what’s happening in all environments from a security trend and general health perspective,” says Wynn. “We now have a much clearer picture of system security at Del Monte.” 

Seamless Integration

The Forefront and System Center solutions deployed at Del Monte have given the company integrated solutions that ease the management of critical systems and applications. “The Forefront products and Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 fit seamlessly with our existing security technologies, such as ISA Server. That capitalizes on and extends our existing investment in Windows-based security,” says Wynn.

By implementing ISA Server 2006, Del Monte was able to easily publish important Web applications for secure remote access. Enhanced management tools and flexible authentication mechanisms help reduce costs and protect the environment from unauthorized access. With ISA Server 2006, Del Monte is also able to quickly adapt to fluctuating remote access demands with Web server load balancing, which helps distribute traffic across multiple servers during peak usage times.

This integration has also led to increased productivity for Wynn, because he can focus on maximizing the company’s software investments and can explore additional new technologies. “There’s no need to manually monitor our systems. Instead, I can concentrate on my job as an IT manager,” he says.

Comprehensive Security Management

With its new integrated security solution based on the Forefront family of products, Del Monte now has a comprehensive security management solution. “We now have combined analysis capabilities across the entire IT environment,” says Wynn. “With Forefront, I can see security trends and activities occurring in all of our solutions together.”

Del Monte administrators can also save time previously spent on security management, because the management of products such as Forefront Security for Exchange Server is automated. “An IT employee who’s managing Exchange Server 2003 doesn’t have to also worry about managing the Forefront Security for Exchange Server environment,” says Wynn. “This solution gives us a complete set of security technologies that definitely helps us save valuable IT management time.”

*ICSA Labs applies objective testing and certification criteria for measuring security compliance and reliability.

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 Del Monte Foods, visit the Web site at:
www.delmonte.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 January 2008