Skip Links

Network World

  • Social Web 
  • Email 
  • Close

Symantec revamps endpoint security product

Endpoint Protection 11.0 integrates NAC; standalone enterprise products slated for retirement.
By Ellen Messmer , Network World , 09/24/2007
  • Share/Email
  • Comment
  • Print

Symantec today unveiled its retooled enterprise desktop security product and management console and announced the phased retirement of existing standalone security products.

Windows-based Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0 adds network-access control functionality  to a product that already combines antivirus, host intrusion prevention, device control and a firewall. In launching its new flagship product, which was code-named “Hamlet,” Symantec also made clear that older desktop security products and the management console Symantec Systems Center are officially slotted for retirement.

“We now stop selling standalone antivirus and network-access control to the enterprise,” says CJ Desai, Symantec’s senior director of endpoint security. Symantec’s current enterprise products, including AntiVirus Enterprise Edition, Client Security, Network Access Control and Sygate Enterprise Protection, are officially being phased out, Desai says. However, Symantec will continue to offer standalone-style products to the consumer and home-office market.

The phase-out of Symantec’s standalone enterprise security products won’t happen overnight, Desai adds.

“We’re giving people three to five years to do this,” he says. In the meantime, to encourage migration to Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0, Symantec is offering it at no cost to customers of the products slated for retirement.

That offer holds appeal for Glendale, Ariz., healthcare organization Touchstone Behavioral Health, which plans to migrate from Symantec’s standalone security products to the Endpoint Protection 11.0 integrated software for its 200 users.

“Our contract’s financial terms make that an easy upgrade path,” says Steven Porter, IT director at Touchstone Behavioral Health. “The common agent is one of the factors that excites me, rolling all this functionality into the product.” Porter says he has been interested in trying NAC, and this will be a way to do it under a limited IT budget.

To help customers migrate from the Symantec System Center management console to the new Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager, the security firm is providing migration tools. In addition, management tools such as IBM Tivoli, Microsoft SMS and HP OpenView also can be used for the job.

With Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0, Symantec is introducing integrated agent software where network-access control is based on both an 802.1X and DHCP-based approach, says Desai. “If part of the network is 802.1X-ready and the other part is not, we have NAC.”

  • Share/Email
  • Comment
  • Print
Partner Content

Brilliantly simple security and control solutions for email, web and endpoint

www.sophos.com

Stopping data leakage

Learn how to exploit your current security investment to control the information that flows into, through and out of your network.

Download the white paper.

Why detection rates aren't enough

Evaluating endpoint security products is a time-consuming and daunting task. Learn the six critical questions you need to ask prospective vendors to get the right endpoint solution.

Download the white paper.

Applications: taking back control

Employees installing unauthorized applications is a growing threat to business security and productivity. Cost-effectively reduce this threat by integrating control into your malware protection.

Learn more today.

Comments (15)
Login
Forgot your account info?

Stop malwares using device control: a real life experianceBy xmachine on June 20, 2008, 12:52 pmSee how blocking devices will decrease malware infections: http://extremesecurity.blogspot.com/2008/06/stop-malwares-using-device-control-real.html

Reply | Read entire comment

Obviously a SymantecBy AnonSJ on May 27, 2008, 3:34 pmObviously a Symantec shill. "Symantec 11? Yeah, great stuff!! No problems here! You guys must not have tested properly!! I rolled it out to 5500 clients with...

Reply | Read entire comment

Have you thought aboutBy Anonymous on May 6, 2008, 3:24 pmHave you thought about evaluating other vendors. There are vendors out there that don't require their customers to rip and replace in order to upgrade to the latest...

Reply | Read entire comment

No problems yetBy Anonymous on March 6, 2008, 1:06 pmInstalled SEP 11.01000 MR1 and patched with latest update 11.01006 on Test Server Win 2k3 SP2 and pushed to a few test workstations XP Pro SP2. Have not encountered...

Reply | Read entire comment

Started an install of SEP onBy Anonymous on February 4, 2008, 3:48 pmStarted an install of SEP on a Friday night on an SBS2003 machine and 15 WinXPPro workstations. We downloaded SEP from Symantec's fileconnect server as an upgrade...

Reply | Read entire comment

View all comments

Add comment
Anonymous comments subject to approval. Register here for member benefits.
Have a NetworkWorld account? Log in here. Register now for a free account.

Videos

rssRss Feed
Get instant email notification when white papers, webcasts, executive guides are added to our library. Stay informed and up-to-date with the latest on IT Technologies with Network World's Resource Alerts.
Network World,to go. Wherever you are. Breaking news delivered to your mobile device. Select the hottest topics in networking and start receiving Network World on your mobile device today.