Symantec Announces Hosted Endpoint Protection

Aimed at cost-conscious businesses, Hosted Endpoint Protection helps companies protect against Web threats.

Security specialist Symantec announced the release of Hosted Endpoint Protection, designed to allow small and midsize businesses to protect their Windows-based laptops, desktops and file servers from the proliferation and growing sophistication of threats with the simplicity of a cloud-based service. Hosted Endpoint Protection is designed to safeguard endpoint systems with a single solution managed from a Web-based console offering protection from the endpoint to the gateway.

In addition to Symantec Hosted Endpoint Protection, recent enhancements to the MessageLabs Web Security Service roaming support options will allow organizations to monitor and secure the online activity of a highly distributed workforce.  MessageLabs Hosted Web Security Service offers enhanced roaming and remote worker support options to help organizations secure and enforce proper Web use in numerous environments.

"A growing number of our clients have central offices with a largely distributed workforce that is either on the road or working from branch offices located across EMEA," said Finian Nally, technical director for E-MIT Solutions, a provider of IT consultancy and management services to SMBs. "With Hosted Endpoint Protection, we have visibility into the health of end user systems and know that their protection levels are current and meet their corporate security requirements regardless of whether they are logged into the network. This part of the workforce is often more difficult to monitor so the ability to manage these distributed systems from a single management console makes our lives much easier and also cuts costs for our clients."

SmartConnect for MessageLabs Hosted Web Security helps protect against malware, enforces Web acceptable usage policies for roaming users and detects geographic location for optimal service performance. RemoteConnect for MessageLabs Hosted Web Security is designed to protect and enforce Web acceptable use policies for teleworkers or employees at remote offices.

"As the hosted model for messaging security has become increasingly popular for its ease of management and deployment, organizations are similarly motivated by the reduced complexity that cloud-based services can offer while effectively protecting their endpoint systems," said Rowan Trollope, senior vice president of Symantec Hosted Services. "Hosted Endpoint Protection leverages our SaaS expertise to deliver advanced technologies that help protect customer systems without requiring additional hardware, management software, or dedicated IT staffing."

According to IT research firm Forrester, telecommuting is accelerating the transition to cloud-based computing solutions which are effective for highly distributed organizations. CA argues a cloud-based delivery model streamlines the process of provisioning remote workers over the Internet, and provides IT organizations with greater visibility and control over corporate assets.

"Customers often experience pain when increased IT resources are required to stay abreast of evolving endpoint threats," said Christian Christiansen, vice president of security products and services for technology research firm IDC. "To reduce these difficulties, customers want turn-key, endpoint solutions that provide the latest protection levels with easy set up, zero maintenance, and automatic upgrades. Security SaaS implementations can fully provide these solutions."