RSA Conference = Security Product Announcements
The annual RSA Conference is almost upon us—the US version is February 5-9 in San Francisco—so security product announcements are flying fast and thick. I registered last week as a press attendee, so I'm currently getting lots of emails containing hints about new security products and product upgrades. So far, I haven't heard about anything that seems groundbreakingly new, but maybe vendors are saving their best material to reveal at the show.
One product area that's still pretty hot is network access control (NAC). StillSecure and TippingPoint say they'll be launching NAC products, and Nortel will demonstrate interoperability of its Secure Network Access (SNA) product with Microsoft's Network Access Protection (NAP) framework.
Data security continues to be in the news, with breaches occurring all too frequently. Tizor and Ecora will be highlighting their data auditing products. Application Security says it will announce a new enterprise database security suite "for centralized management of vulnerability scanning, real-time activity monitoring, and encryption." RedCannon, Code Green Networks, and CipherOptics will talk about enhanced technologies for encrypting data on USB drives, endpoints, and networks, respectively.
Risk management companies will also be touting some new features. Relational Security will have a new version of its software that helps companies assess risk based on business and compliance requirements. And Archer Technologies "will be making several announcements centered on...product innovation in the risk management and policy management arena."
Stay tuned to the Windows IT Pro Web site and Security Pro VIP Web site for more information about the RSA Conference and about security products and features announced at the show.
Microsoft System Center Essentials 2007 Beta 2 Is Successor to MOM 2005 Workgroup Edition
Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 Workgroup Edition gets a good introduction in the January issues of Windows IT Security and Security Pro VIP in the articles "MOM for SMBs" (InstantDoc ID 94361) and "MOM Management Packs." (InstantDoc ID 94671) The successor to MOM Workgroup Edition is Microsoft System Center Essentials (SCE) 2007, currently in Beta 2.
In "Closing the Feedback Loop" (InstantDoc ID 94018), SCE is described by Product Manager David Mills as follows, "With SCE you not only get monitoring for servers, but also monitoring for clients. It's a much more comprehensive package than MOM Workgroup....it's built from the ground up on [System Center] Operations Manager [Ops Manager] and WSUS architecture. The WSUS side handles updating, software distribution, asset inventory. The Ops Manager side is for monitoring."