Built under the code-name Stirling, the package of security applications will include Microsoft’s Antigen server anti-virus, anti-spam and content filtering technologies — in the form of its Forefront Security for Exchange Server and Forefront Security for SharePoint products — along with its Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Firewall software, Forefront Client Security desktop defence system, and network access control tools.
The system will also integrate elements of Microsoft’s Systems Center IT management platform, company officials said.
By pulling the various security programs together under a single umbrella, Microsoft officials said they can help customers more easily achieve their goals of making IT infrastructure easier and cheaper to manage while providing improved protection through tighter product integration.
One of the most important aspects of Stirling — which Microsoft plans to preview in 2007 and follow with a public beta version in 2008 before launching during the first half of 2009 — is a centralized management and reporting console.
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