BigFix Announces Support For Network Access Protection Technology From Microsoft
Emeryville, Calif., July 13, 2004—BigFix, a leading provider of vulnerability management solutions, today announced support for Network Access Protection technology from Microsoft, an extensible standards-based solution that enables users to securely access their corporate network. As one of more than 25 complementary technology providers supporting Network Access Protection (NAP) technology, BigFix will work together with Microsoft to help deliver applications and end-to-end solutions for secure network access for both end-users and administrators.
Available in an updated release of Windows Server 2003 (codenamed R2), Network Access Protection technology delivers a uniform method for detecting the health state of a client attempting to connect to a network; restricting the access until compliance to policy is validated, and updating the client to current security policy levels. The BigFix Client Compliance API is planned to be integrated with the Network Access Protection technology to assure each endpoint’s compliance with security best practices and patch, anti-virus and configuration policies prior to granting access to the enterprise network.
“We’re pleased to welcome BigFix as one of the first supporters of Network Access Protection technology,” said Steve Anderson, director in the Windows Server Group at Microsoft Corp. “Network Access Protection technology is an important solution that will help customers lower the cost of managing access needs while simultaneously providing more control to IT professionals.”
“BigFix is excited to be working with Microsoft to integrate BigFix’s real-time endpoint security and client assessment and remediation capabilities into the Network Access Protection technology,” stated Gregory Toto, vice president of product management at BigFix. “The endpoint, including desktops and laptops, represents a crucial point of pain for enterprises. By supporting Network Access Protection technology, we can offer our enterprise customers an even higher degree of control over their endpoint security, and provide a broader range of options to simplify rapid, secure and compliant network access.”
BigFix’s support of Network Access Protection technology from Microsoft emphasizes BigFix’s commitment to providing an open architecture to the broader industry for the development and production of end-to-end security and systems management solutions. In June 2004, BigFix announced the BigFix Open Architecture initiative, designed to help OEM, systems integrator (SI) and VAR partners more easily integrate with the BigFix platform to create specialized value-added content solutions. The BigFix Open Architecture leverages a series of product interfaces that open the BigFix Enterprise Suite (BES) to development partners and security vendors who are interested in building customized solutions for customers.
In addition to BigFix’s Open Architecture program, enterprises and OEM, SI and VAR partners can also leverage BigFix’s recently announced Client Compliance API to address the growing requirement that the configurations of endpoints are compliant with corporate standards prior to allowing unrestricted network access. The BigFix Client Compliance API enables network access solutions, such as Network Access Protection technology, and clients for personal firewalls and VPNs, to leverage the capabilities of the BigFix agent to comprehensively assess and assure an endpoint’s compliance with security best practices and patch, anti-virus and configuration policies prior to granting access to the enterprise network.
BES is a flexible, secure, agent-based platform that provides real-time inspection and highly targeted, real-time identification and remediation of vulnerability and configuration issues on an enterprise-scale. BES enables the management of configurations across the largest multiplatform networks, supporting up to 75,000 individual Microsoft Windows, Linux, Macintosh OS X and UNIX computers from a single BES server.
About BigFix, Inc.
BigFix enterprise vulnerability management solutions help large organizations maintain the health, performance and security of their systems. The foundation for all BigFix solutions is a scalable, secure, agent-based platform, the BigFix Enterprise Suite, which gives IT departments complete visibility into every computer running on a corporate network, and the automation-assisted control to rapidly identify, assess and remediate threats. BigFix provides solutions for endpoint security, patch management, vulnerability remediation, and configuration management. Global corporations such as American Eagle Outfitters, Corning, Darden Restaurants, Marriott International, Northrop Grumman, Pitney Bowes, SunTrust, TRW Automotive and one of the world’s largest financial services organizations rely on BigFix everyday. BigFix technology has received awards and recognition from numerous organizations and was recently named “Best New Security Solution for 2004” by SC Magazine.