Symantec Addresses Customers’ Changing IT Environments

News Release

Symantec Addresses Customers’ Changing IT Environments with Updates to Altiris IT Management Suite

Enhanced capabilities automate management, increase security and optimise costs across diverse technologies

Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) has announced enhancements to Altiris IT Management Suite 7 that help organisations easily support new technology changes, quickly adapt to changing processes and business needs and gain the necessary insight to make more intelligent, data-driven decisions. The latest release introduces a new, intuitive user interface and streamlined software management and will include expanded patch support for popular applications.

“Change is inevitable for IT organisations and it comes from several sources – from managing and supporting disparate endpoints to adopting new technologies or trends like cloud, virtualisation and mobile,” said Rob Greer, vice president, product management, Endpoint and Mobility Group, Symantec. “Tackling the ability to manage that change can be a daunting task in an increasingly heterogeneous environment. The new features of IT Management Suite will help businesses achieve a new level of predictability by allowing them to manage change with confidence, make smarter and faster decisions and drive innovation.”

As IT organisations continue to expand the number of devices, applications and virtual environments they support, it is increasingly essential to simplify the management complexities across these new technologies without overtaxing existing staff. The updated user interface now included in IT Management Suite provides organisations dealing with multiple teams, device types and workspaces with a single interface to manage the broad heterogeneity common to most organisations. The single interface helps drive repeatable day-to-day operations by delivering faster performance with common tasks, drag-and-drop functionality, tighter product integration and consolidated management across a number of platforms, virtual systems and mobile devices.

With a growing number of applications to support, the ability to accurately manage software and assess license compliance is taking on greater importance. IT Management Suite now provides complete visibility into IT software assets, delivers both physical and virtual applications and produces accurate license compliance reports. At-a-glance details help organisations quickly understand what software is deployed, what is being used and calculating potential cost savings. This consolidated view provides the necessary intelligence to maintain compliance and eliminate unnecessary software purchases.

The Symantec Global Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR) XVI reported a 30 percent increase in the number of vulnerabilities and a 161 percent increase in new vendors affected by vulnerabilities in 2010. With an updated release scheduled for later this year, IT Management Suite is expected to patch vulnerabilities for more than 120 applications from a growing list of non-Microsoft, third-party software including common browsers and plugins, standard commercial applications and common personal applications. It will also support service packs and other updates for complete protection.

Additional New Features and Benefits:
• Expanded Platform Support: Beyond support for multiple operating systems and virtualised environments, including Hyper-V, Mac, Linux, UNIX, VMware and Solaris, IT Management Suite integrates with Symantec Mobile Management to support iOS, Android, Blackberry, Symbian, Windows Phone and HP Web OS.
• New Virtual Management Integration: IT Management Suite provides a consolidated management console across physical devices and virtual machines from VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V. The ability to blend both management environments is critical as organisations increase their virtual environments and extend provisioning to private clouds and virtual desktop implementations.
• Increased Automation Capabilities: Built-in process automation allows IT to tackle task automation, run book automation and end-user self-service requests without requiring additional workflow solutions. By streamlining common IT processes, organisations can remove human interaction, provide faster service and document compliance to corporate standards. A new process portal tracks all running workflows through the various stages, providing greater customer efficiency gains that are core to businesses.
• Advanced Reporting and Analytics: The addition of IT Analytics capabilities provides powerful reporting, ad hoc assessments and dynamic key performance indicators, allowing users to explore data and answer their own questions. Organisations can simplify administrative decisions and end-user experiences with real-time data-driven conclusions.

IT Management Suite is a critical component in Symantec’s management portfolio and strategy focused on helping customers more effectively manage hybrid environments consisting of virtual, mobile and traditional devices. According to a Symantec commissioned Forrester Consulting study on the benefits of deploying Altiris technology, customers realised quantified savings of US$7.3 million over three years in a number of key areas, including labour saving in patch management, Windows 7 migration and process automation.(1)

According to Forrester Research, desktop operations managers are watching their computing environment change. There are now more types of devices and more varieties of operating systems entering the enterprise than ever before. This is leading to an architectural shift, one that moves the "desktop" environment away from the physical device and to the virtual device. At the same time, these desktop professionals are watching their jobs change: Desktop operations teams are now responsible for the security and disaster recovery of the devices (both physical and virtual) that they manage. This means that IT organisations need client management solutions that not only help them manage and secure today's more standardised PC environment but will also be able to support the desktop of tomorrow — one that is more virtual and heterogeneous than ever before. (2)

IT Management Suite includes Altiris Client Management Suite, Altiris Server Management Suite, Altiris Asset Management Suite and Symantec ServiceDesk. The suite is built on a common management platform that drives best practice automation and provides modular and extensible integration across Symantec’s product portfolio and third-party solutions.

Availability
IT Management Suite 7.1 is now available and can be purchased directly from Symantec or through Symantec’s worldwide network of value-added authorised resellers, distributors and systems integrators. For more information, please visit http://www.symantec.com/business/it-management-suite.

Click to Tweet: Symantec helps customers adapt to changing workspace with updates to Altiris IT Management Suite 7: http://bit.ly/jhPJgR

Related
• Altiris IT Management Suite
• Symantec Mobile Management
• Altiris Client Management Suite
• Altiris Server Management Suite
• Altiris Asset Management Suite
• Symantec ServiceDesk
• Forrester Consulting: The Total Economic Impact Of Altiris IT Management Suite 7 From Symantec, Multicompany Analysis (PDF)
• Internet Security Threat Report, Volume 16

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About Business Solutions from Symantec
Symantec helps organisations secure and manage their information-driven world with server management, endpoint management, server virtualization, endpoint virtualization and mobile management solutions.

About Symantec
Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help consumers and organisations secure and manage their information-driven world. Our software and services protect against more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently, enabling confidence wherever information is used or stored. More information is available at www.symantec.com.

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