Panda Managed Office Protection and Panda GateDefender Performa receive industry praise
Panda Managed Office Protection (PMOP) has been awarded five stars in a PC World (Spain) review – Panda GateDefender picked up CRN’s recommended product seal
Panda Managed Office Protection (PMOP), the security as a service (SaaS) solution from Cloud Security Company Panda Security, and Panda GateDefender Performa, the company’s perimeter security device, have both received positive ratings from reputable industry publications, PC World and CRN Magazine, respectively.
Panda Managed Office Protection was awarded the maximum five stars in a review by PC World in Spain. The magazine defines PMOP as a “product based on a software-plus-services platform, offering simple and dynamic protection for workstations with extensive management options.” According to PC World, “(PMOP) is a highly flexible solution that allows users in SMBs to be managed and protected from a central point, regardless of whether they are inside or outside the company… This tool lets you create protection profiles even for groups, yet specifying parameters to apply to individual users. Solution administrators can view a status graph at any time, listing detections and their sources.”
“It also includes, for each license, unlimited Malware Radar audits, offering a rapid analysis of the general status of users.” These audits, along with the overall simplicity and management capabilities of the solution are rated as the most outstanding features of PMOP in the PC World review.
Panda GateDefender Performa has earned the Recommended Product seal in a review by CRN. According to the article, “Since GateDefender does not act as a router, it can easily be integrated into an existing network, without any changes to the architecture.” The magazine also praises how simple it is to set up the various Panda Security modules: “Content filtering is intuitive to set up. You can exclude specific files from the filter, or you can enable the HMTL page filter,” says CRN. This highly respected publication also underlines how Panda GateDefender Performa is “a heroic effort on the part of Panda to take on so many threats– antimalware, embedded Web threats, and more.”
More information about Panda Managed Office Protection is available at http://www.pandasecurity.com/enterprise/solutions/managedprotection/, and Panda GateDefender Performa at http://www.pandasecurity.com/enterprise/solutions/gatedefender-performa/.
Sunbelt Software and FaceTime partner to enable Secure Web 2.0, Social Networks and Unified Communications
Sunbelt’s Anti-malware Technology Integrated into FaceTime’s Secure Web Gateway
Sunbelt Software, a leading provider of Windows security software, announced a licensing agreement with FaceTime Communications, the leading provider of solutions enabling the safe use of Web 2.0 and unified communications in the enterprise.
Through the terms of the agreement, Sunbelt’s anti-malware technology, designed specifically for the gateway, and its Threat Track(TM) data feeds have been licensed by FaceTime for integration with its Unified Security Gateway product. As part of the integration, FaceTime will deploy Sunbelt’s VIPRE technology into its appliance to augment the protection provided by FaceTime’s Security Labs and the FaceTime WebFilter.
With the incorporation of Sunbelt’s gateway anti-malware technology, FaceTime’s Unified Security Gateway delivers robust malware scanning at the network perimeter alongside traditional Web filtering. This is in addition to the application research provided by FaceTime’s Security Labs, which protects enterprises from the associated threats of more than 2,100 Web 2.0 applications from instant messaging to P2P, Gaming, IPTV and social networking. Sunbelt’s Threat Track provides the industry’s most accurate and up-to-date feeds, identifying and propagating the latest malicious URLs and malware to researchers. It relies on the world-class research efforts of SunbeltLabs(TM), the malware research and analysis division of Sunbelt Software.
“As enterprise communications converge with publicly available Web 2.0 applications it becomes imperative to secure increasingly complex data streams,” said Nishant Jadhav, Director of Product Management of FaceTime Communications. “Sunbelt gives us the most powerful information in real-time to be able to protect enterprise users so they can freely communicate through any channel in a secure fashion.”
“Sunbelt’s threat research and detection technology, along with Threat Track data feeds is a perfect complement to FaceTime’s existing application security capabilities,” said Chad Loeven, VP, business development for Sunbelt Software. “The integration of our comprehensive perimeter anti-malware scanning engine provides FaceTime’s customers protection from the full range of threats that can be found in the Web 2.0 sphere.”
Source: Sunbelt Software
69% of Australian organisations hit by one or more data breach incidents within last twelve months
Research from Ponemon Institute Reveals Company-wide Use of Data Encryption Technologies Reduces Risk of Breach and is Critical to Company Reputation
PGP Corporation, a global leader in enterprise data protection, has announced the results of the second annual study by The Ponemon Institute, identifying the steps Australian organisations are taking in order to safeguard their confidential data. The 2009 Annual Study: Australian Enterprise Encryption Trends, which polled IT security professionals at 482 enterprises, found that 69 percent of Australian organisations have been hit by at least one data breach incident within the last year, up from 56 percent in the previous year. The number of firms experiencing multiple breaches was also up, with 41 percent of respondents admitting to more than two data loss incidents in the twelve month period (up from 28 percent in 2008). Of those organisations that did admit to a breach in the last 12 months 65 percent were never publicly announced; there was no legal or regulatory requirement to disclose these incidents.
Despite the rising number of data breaches, Australian organisations are aware of the consequences of such incidents, with 66 percent of respondents stating that data protection played an ‘important’ or ‘very important’ role in an organisation’s overall risk management efforts. 57 percent felt encryption helped them meet privacy commitments and 70 percent believed encryption was a critical factor in protecting a company’s reputation. The percentage of respondents who believe that the use of encryption increases customers’ trust and confidence in the organization’s privacy or data security commitments has increased from 32 percent in 2008 to 38 percent in 2009. Using encryption to comply with privacy or data security regulations and requirements has increased from 13 percent in 2009 to 15 percent in 2009. Those who selected regulations as one of the top reasons for using data encryption in 2009 point to the Privacy Act, National Privacy Principles and PCI DSS requirements.
In response to some high profile cases of lost and stolen laptops, together with the increased business use of smart-phones, this year’s study also assessed organisational approaches to encrypting data held on mobile devices. More than 64percent of respondents say it is very important or important to encrypt employees’ mobile devices and 55% believe that it is very important or important to provide end-to-end email security for Windows Mobile 6.0/6.1 Professional Edition.
“As we are finding through-out the world, breaches are on the rise as well in the Australian market where they increased 13 percent year over year,” said Dr Larry Ponemon, Chairman and founder of The Ponemon Institute. “There is encouraging news in the Australian market, 85 percent of the respondents stated that when they take a strategic approach to their encryption applications and use a platform approach it increases the effectiveness and efficiency of their IT security program.”
The primary benefits of the platform approach to managing encryption across the enterprise include reducing operational costs, eliminating redundant administrator tasks and supporting the development of a strategic encryption strategy. These were cited in the 2008 study as being the primary benefits as well.
“Australia organizations are in a unique position to be able to lead the next generation of privacy and data security regulations in the Asia Pacific region,” said Phillip Dunkelberger, president and CEO of PGP Corporation. “The Ponemon data shows us that Australian organisations are already taking a proactive approach to protecting customer information and other valuable data assets.”
The study found that 75% of Australian businesses have fully executed or just launched implementation of data encryption technology while 25 percent are in the process of implementing encryption in order to protect sensitive information. Encryption is most widely used to protect the data held on file servers, Virtual Private Networks (VPN) and databases. VOIP and mainframe encryption are the least deployed applications.
Other high priority activities in 2009 also include data archive and e-discovery systems with 71 percent fully executed or recently launched and endpoint device control technologies with 70 percent fully executed or just launched. The activities with the highest in-process response in 2009 include the implementation of endpoint-based data leak detection and prevention technologies, identity and access management systems and strong authentication devices.
For more information or to receive a copy of this study, visit: www.encryptionreports.com.
Source: PGP Corporation
Feature Pack 2.0 for SAP Business ByDesign Solution Available to Midsize Companies
Enhanced Business Functionality of On-Demand Solution Allows Complete Insight for Better Decision-Making
SAP AG announced the availability of the latest update – feature pack 2.0 for SAP Business ByDesign(TM). Specifically designed for midsize companies, SAP Business ByDesign is a comprehensive, fully integrated on-demand solution that helps customers gain a higher degree of visibility across their enterprise in order to make more informed business decisions. In addition, the on-demand delivery model of SAP Business ByDesign helps reduce overall operational IT costs associated with infrastructure, equipment and software management, allowing midsize companies to maintain a competitive edge. The new feature pack 2.0 for SAP Business ByDesign significantly expands functionality and provides more value to customers by offering business support for 35 end-to-end process scenarios. Managed, monitored and maintained by SAP experts in world-class hosted data centers, SAP Business ByDesign delivers the best of SAP technology, on-demand. Currently the solution is available in China, France, Germany, India, the United Kingdom and the United States.
“We are currently implementing SAP Business ByDesign and expect to gain clarity across our entire business, which will help us remain competitive and make fast, well-informed decisions,” said Patti Charlton, CFO, ResearchPoint. “We are excited about the capabilities we have seen in the feature pack 2.0 for SAP Business ByDesign and believe that it offers significant benefits to service companies like ours. Through the new release, we expect to benefit almost immediately from the new capabilities, such as business analytics, project profitability and automated project billing that the feature pack offers.”
As companies carefully examine current and future investments, those in the small and midsize enterprise (SME) market need business models that reduce investment risks while simultaneously assisting users in managing the entire organization. The new feature pack 2.0 for SAP Business ByDesign provides midsize companies with many additional functions to help them make better business decisions and gain clarity into their operations. With the feature pack 2.0, customers can achieve:
- Complete insight for better decision-making. Through the integration with software from the SAP BusinessObjects(TM) portfolio, including Crystal Reports software and dashboards from Xcelsius software, executives of midsize companies can benefit from increased transparency into their business operation and can utilize comprehensive analytics to make decisions that can improve their business performance. Executive dashboards provide key performance indicators such as cash and liquidity management and sales projections. In addition, through customizable key performance indicators executives can control their key corporate measures.
- Streamlined processes and faster execution. Feature pack 2.0 for SAP Business byDesign provides services and manufacturing companies more mission-critical business processes in a single, integrated solution. Designed to meet the needs of high growth services companies, feature pack 2.0 integrates customer relationship management (CRM), order-to-cash with automated billing, project profitability and resource management, time and expense reimbursement, procure to pay and service and repair. The solution also helps significantly reduce administrative overhead for services companies by offering a reduced per-user fee for consultants who only need to access the system for time and expense entry. Manufacturing companies will have complete visibility across their supply chain, including suppliers, customers, manufacturing and logistics. They can directly impact their bottom line by managing strategic procurement via an automated request for quotation (RFQ) process, as well as reduce recalls with integrated product engineering and quality management tools. The new feature pack can impact manufacturers’ top-line by having visibility into customer and product profitability using the built-in analytics and drill down capabilities.
- Enhanced user productivity. With feature pack 2.0, companies can collaborate more effectively internally-as well as with customers, suppliers and partners — through new groupware integration with Microsoft Outlook and MS Office. Companies can achieve higher productivity by utilizing improved personalization features and a series of new third-party Web services that are now available in feature pack 2.0.
“With the availability of the feature pack 2.0, we significantly increase the value that our midsize charter clients are receiving from SAP Business ByDesign,” said Hans-Peter Klaey, president of SME and corporate officer of SAP AG. “Our charter client program for SAP Business ByDesign is a leading program to ensure close support and collaboration for innovative companies that want all the benefits of the only comprehensive and fully integrated on-demand solution dedicated to midsize companies.”
Current SAP Business ByDesign customers are notified about updates in the “What’s New” section within the solution to help them start planning for adoption of the new features at their own pace. Topics in the section enable customers to learn more about the value of new and enhanced features. In addition, customers will also receive new or updated learning courses that can be accessed in a personalized manner within SAP Business ByDesign. Further guidance will be provided on how to configure the solution to activate the new features when users are ready.
The online SAP Business ByDesign(TM) Business Center is the single place to go for information about SAP Business ByDesign and allows collaboration with SAP and its partners. Once in the business center, interested parties can access online product information, demos and role-based videos. Visitors to the center can contact SAP directly via phone, e-mail or online chat. The center also provides charter clients with access to the SAP Business ByDesign community.
Source: SAP AG
Microsoft launches Silverlight 3 and Expression 3
NBC Sports, Continental Airlines and MGM leverage new releases to cost-effectively deliver immersive experiences across the Web and desktop.
Delivering on its commitment to help enable the creation and deployment of the world’s most compelling applications, Microsoft Corp. launched Microsoft Silverlight 3 and Expression 3, combining groundbreaking new capabilities with simplified packaging to provide the industry’s leading media and rich Internet application (RIA) solution. In conjunction with Microsoft Visual Studio, Silverlight and Expression offer a highly collaborative development and design environment that simplifies the process of delivering engaging user experiences. Adoption of Microsoft’s platform continues to rapidly accelerate as evidenced by strong demand for Microsoft Silverlight 2. In less than nine months since its release, more than 1 in 3 Internet devices now have Silverlight 2 installed. In addition, a surge of new Silverlight and Expression customers were announced today, including MGM’s “SGU: Stargate Universe” and Continental Airlines Inc. In addition, NBC Sports announced its intention to use Silverlight for all of its high-quality online video delivery across its numerous sporting franchises.
“NBC Sports is committed to bringing our viewers premier sporting events such as the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) events, the Wimbledon Championships and the Olympic Games,” said Perkins Miller, senior vice president of Digital Media at NBC Sports. “NBC Sports has evaluated many different technologies for delivering high-quality experiences online, and none have delivered the video quality, scalability and business value that Microsoft Silverlight has consistently brought. As we look forward to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver as well as other major championships in 2010, we will be using Silverlight as the preferred technology to deliver the best in next-generation online high-definition video experiences.”
Following quickly on the heels of NBC Universal’s deployment of Silverlight and Internet Information Services 7.0 (IIS7) Smooth Streaming for its Live at Wimbledon video experience, Microsoft highlighted how other new customers are leveraging the power of Silverlight and Expression, including the following:
- MGM: MGM’s “SGU: Stargate Universe” used Deep Zoom and Microsoft Photosynth within Silverlight to deliver an immersive experience on the official site, http://stargate.mgm.com/, for the Stargate TV franchise, allowing fans to explore the sets where the show is filmed in great detail. Using Silverlight technology, MGM’s “SGU: Stargate Universe” can also extend greater flexibility to prospective advertisers through various in-stream ad formats supporting multiple publishing frameworks.
- Continental Airlines: Continental is updating its call center reservation system by redeveloping the application as a RIA using Silverlight and delivered through a Web browser. This will enable the company to enhance customer service, reduce costs and increase productivity, processing more than 70,000 calls a day.
In addition to widespread customer adoption, Microsoft also highlighted the strong partner ecosystem, with more than 300 Microsoft partners in more than 30 countries helping customers around the world design, develop and deliver compelling experiences with Silverlight and Expression, including leading content delivery networks, solution providers, and encoding independent software vendors. More information about Silverlight partners is available at http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/partners/default.aspx.
“Silverlight and Expression fill a clear need in the marketplace for a complete end-to-end solution that makes it easy for development teams to work together effectively, from concept to deployment, to create the types of rich interactive experiences today’s users expect,” said Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of the .NET Developer Platform at Microsoft. “In a record amount of time, we’ve gone from being the industry newcomer to achieving a remarkable rate of industry adoption, rapidly delivering capabilities such as SketchFlow and IIS Smooth Streaming that are unmatched by other vendors. With more than 6 million developers with .NET programming skills worldwide and a platform that delivers a rich user experience at some of the lowest costs possible, Silverlight ubiquity is a matter of ‘when,’ not ‘if.’”
Create the Applications of the Future Today
As part of its commitment to provide powerful, low-cost solutions for building rich user experiences, Microsoft announced it is further simplifying the pricing and packaging for its design and development tools. For example, developers and designers can now purchase Visual Studio Professional Edition and Expression together for a reduced rate of only $999 (U.S.) estimated retail price. Silverlight remains a free runtime that almost anyone can use to deliver great Web experiences. More detailed information on pricing is available at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/silverlight.
Microsoft is introducing several groundbreaking features in Silverlight 3 and Expression 3 that enable development teams to create RIAs and media applications with capabilities not offered by competitors, including the following:
- Expression SketchFlow. Available to customers just four months after its initial debut at MIX09, SketchFlow provides development teams unrivaled capabilities to rapidly prototype applications and take their ideas from concept to reality.
- Out of Browser. Silverlight 3 provides the seamless ability to add out-of-browser, connected and disconnected scenarios for cross-platform applications, radically improving the productivity and capabilities over traditional RIAs.
- IIS Smooth Streaming. As part of Internet Information Services 7.0 (IIS7) Media Services and combined with Silverlight 3, IIS Smooth Streaming enables the industry’s first HDTV-quality (1080p) video experiences with rich interactivity for both on-demand and live video.
Silverlight 3 also delivers hundreds of features and controls that increase development team productivity, including 3-D and hardware graphics acceleration. Combined with continued innovation in world-class tools for development teams in Expression 3, which builds on and complements the strengths of Visual Studio and works with Windows Server, the global Web community is now empowered to create cutting-edge RIAs and media experiences.
All this news and more will be highlighted as part of the Silverlight 3 and Expression 3 interactive virtual launch experience available at http://www.seethelight.com/. Visitors can watch product demos, visit customer and partner pavilions and see the latest in digital design and development in the new “Visual Kitchen.” Replays of the July 10 launch event keynote and in-depth product sessions will also be available.
Product Information and Availability
Silverlight 3 is available today for download at http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight. Customers already using a previous version of Silverlight may be automatically upgraded to Silverlight 3. Expression 3 will be available within the next 30 days, including a free, 60-day trial version available at http://www.microsoft.com/expression/try-it. A Release Candidate of Expression Blend 3 with SketchFlow is available today for download.