MS Intros Security Management Console

BARCELONA, Spain -- Microsoft today unveiled the new Forefront Server Security Management Console, a centralized, Web-based management solution for onsite or remote administration of Microsoft messaging and collaboration security solutions.

Today’s announcement builds on Microsoft’s momentum in the global enterprise security market, where Microsoft’s strategy to provide more simplified and integrated security and management technologies has been strongly embraced by customers.

PressPass spoke with Margaret Arakawa, senior director of Security & Access Product Marketing at Microsoft, about this milestone and how it fits into Microsoft’s broader strategy and commitment to customers.

PressPass: What is the Forefront Server Security Management Console?

Arakawa: It’s a Web-based tool that helps businesses centrally manage, configure, report on and update multiple deployments of Forefront Security for Exchange Server, Forefront Security for SharePoint, as well as Microsoft Antigen products. Today’s launch represents Microsoft’s continued progress on our long-term integrated security and management strategy and roadmap that we laid out for customers earlier this year.

PressPass: At last year’s IT Forum you released Forefront Sever Security for Exchange, and you followed that with several more products. How’s that going?

Arakawa: We’ve seen significant demand from customers across the complete product portfolio, from client to server to network edge security. On the application server side, customer adoption is really accelerating with organizations worldwide. We’re now protecting more than 20 percent of Exchange on-premise mailboxes with Forefront Security for Exchange Server. On the collaboration server side, Microsoft has seen tremendous customer demand for our Microsoft Office SharePoint Server solution. As SharePoint becomes a mission-critical collaboration application where customers store confidential and sensitive materials, customers are realizing the importance of protecting it. The unique capabilities that Forefront Security for SharePoint delivers that have made it the market leading solution include multiple scanning engines, Rights Management Server (RMS) integration, advanced content filtering, and deep integration with Office SharePoint Server 2007.

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT)