LANDesk Upgrades Security, Management SuitesLANDesk Upgrades Security, Management Suites

Colorado Springs, Colo. — LANDesk Software Ltd. is upgrading its Security Suite and Management Suite, relying in part on active management technology (AMT) features developed in conjunction with Intel Corp, from which LANDesk was spun out in 2002. The rollouts are concurrent with LANDesk's expansion of its relationship with Lenovo Group Ltd., the Beijing company that bought IBM's PC division.

AMT is based on Intel's 945G chip set and uses a dedicated network interface card and flash memory to monitor network assets. The technology brings traditional out-of-band management tools used in server environments down to the desktop. LANDesk has integrated AMT information into its database to monitor all network nodes via software agents.

A critical element of the LANDesk releases is the ability to manage endpoints and synchronize the patches provided for remote users, while affording telecommuters the flexibility to use virtual private networks and corporate resources remotely, said LANDesk marketing vice president Dave Taylor.

The Security Suite 8.6 Trusted Access tool scans endpoints for compliance with security policy, verifies device health and denies access to suspect hosts. The Trusted Access scanner meets Cisco Network Admission Control standards. Clients that don't meet secure firewall settings, don't comply with the latest security patches or don't meet patterns of corporate antivirus tools can be blocked. Settings of tools from McAfee, Trend Micro, Norton and Symantec can be monitored and enforced from the central console.

In the Asset Discovery tools, AMT permits even powered-down and "bare box" systems to be monitored. Templates and compliance dashboards built into Security Suite 8.6 make security configuration audits easier to create. Spyware can be monitored in real-time.

Updated patch management lets managers decide how security patches are deployed and how to execute the patches already in clients' cache memory.

In Management Suite 8.6, LANDesk relies on AMT to provide a full analysis of enterprise resources, including those outside the firewall, from within the security perimeter. The Management Gateway creates a brokered connection, encrypted using the Secure Sockets Layer, through firewalls and proxy servers, without the use of a VPN infrastructure. The suite operates from MAC OS X as well as Intel-based Linux environments RedHat 3, SuSe 9 and Mandrake 10.1.

Server Manager 8.6 brings the monitoring tools of the management and security suites to sever environments ranging from enterprise server clusters to single-system blade servers. Higher-layer consoles for IT administrators dispense with lower-layer information on endpoint hardware health.

The rollouts come as LANDesk expands an existing Lenovo relationship to include joint marketing and joint feature development. The latter work will leverage both AMT and the ThinkPad-specific technology developed by ThinkVantage Technologies.

LANDesk's two-year-old pact with Lenovo Beijing predates the IBM acquisition. When the PC division split from IBM, the system-management tools from Tivoli Systems and the IBM server group did not come with the transfer, Taylor said, "so the Lenovo platforms have really been in need of comprehensive endpoint tools." Lenovo and LANdesk expect the expanded deal to yield new software and hardware.

The 8.6 updates become available tomorrow. No price increases are planned from current per-node list prices: Management Suite sells for $89 a node, Security Suite for $59, Server Manager for $299, Patch Manager for $30 and Inventory Manager for $30.