Stirling at the Forefront

Joe Wilcox News Brief. For centuries the city of Stirling helped defend the Kingdom of Scotland. Can Microsoft's similarly named product be a fortress?

Testers will answer that question over the coming months. Today, Microsoft made available a beta suite of enterprise security products code-named "Stirling."

The new product does for enterprise security what Microsoft did for the consumer market: Bundle. Stirling incorporates other security applications around a management console. Four are Forefront branded: Client Security, Security for Exchange Server, Security for SharePoint and Threat Management Gateway. Stirling also will include revamped ISA (Internet Security and Acceleration) Server.

The test will be a long one. Microsoft doesn't plan to release Stirling until the first half of 2009. Microsoft announced the security suite in June 2007.

Stirling's main product design goal is simplified security management but not without Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. Stirling taps into NAP (Network Access Protection), which is a security policy management feature of the two Windows versions. Stirling consolidates policy and other features into a single console, but with focus on providing infrastructure security, rather than just local desktop- or server-based security.

An announcement this far in advance of release is as much about stalling competitive upgrades as it is about product testing. Some enterprises may pause and wait to see what Microsoft delivers as testing progresses.

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