The Hindu Business Line : Microsoft enters security scene with Forefront, System Center

System alert
Solution will integrate management, security tools
Increasing server adoption rate driving need for central control.
India's $35-m security market this year to reach $53.4-m by 2011.

MR TIM SINCLAIR

Bangalore May 20 Microsoft is launching its Forefront and System Center suites in India this June. While Forefront offers protection, System Center offers control over your IT infrastructure.

In the currently fragmented marketplace where `best of breed' solutions reign supreme in pockets, this suite will rely on its "holistic" nature to give it a lead. "Customers wanted a single set of management tools integrated with security tools. Microsoft had some of the pieces, and with the acquisition of Sybari's server security elements and Whale's intelligent gateway solutions last year, we now have most of the elements for a complete suite.

"We invested more resources and brought them out under the Microsoft brand name. We have also invested in client security. For many years, we have been working to get it all together in a holistic way," said Mr Tim Sinclair, General Manager for Management Practices — Windows Enterprise Management Division, Microsoft Corporation, speaking to Business Line on Friday.

Microsoft is not flinching from competition from popular security vendors such as McAfee and Symantec. "There is no one vendor with a holistic solution. Who better to secure your Windows environment but Microsoft?" says Mr Douglas Hauger, Chief Operating Officer, Microsoft Corporation India.

Market range

The security market is currently poised at $85 million and is growing at a CAGR of 28 per cent. It is expected to reach $200 million by 2011, by analyst firm IDC estimates. And while the Indian systems management market is still small, at $35 million this year, it records a 22-24 per cent growth. This will become a $53.4-million market by 2011.

Increasing server adoption rate has driven the need for a central commanding control and System Center addresses this. Its Hyderabad development centre has contributed to this latest of Microsoft's offerings.

Data Protection Manager, for backup and recovery of data on servers, and User State Migration, for upgrading from XP to Vista, were conceived at the centre, noted Mr Sinclair.

Standardising

"Mid-tier companies don't have the luxury of focusing on both IT and running their business. Especially in India, where businesses are growing 30-40 per cent a year, they need to leverage money spent on IT for strategic business value. This suite responds to customer's request to help them standardise and simplify IT environment. So they can think more about business," he said.

System Center Essentials has been designed for companies with between 50 to 500 PCs and about 30 servers. "It has a very easy-to-use interface, and lets you monitor the health of the company's network, perform automatic patch updates, asset management — how many PCs are online, what applications are loaded on them, and what is the space used up on their hard disk drives," he said.

Licence fee

For the first time, the company is offering a product without a licence fee. Forefront will be offered on a service model — no upfront investment for a licence, but an annual subscription fee of $20, and maintenance charges. "This service model is unique to this product. We felt this made sense in this business," explained Mr Hauger.

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Microsoft enters security scene with Forefront, System Center