BigFix Goes Company Wide at Countrywide; Leading Mortgage Lender Relies on BigFix to Help Manage 75,000 Server, Desktop and Mobile Computers and Reduces Spyware Infection Rate by Nearly 90 Percent.

EMERYVILLE, Calif. -- Countrywide Financial Corporation (NYSE:CFC) has successfully implemented BigFix technology to manage security and software configurations on more than 75,000 server, desktop and mobile computers across its distributed IT infrastructure. The company reports reductions in time required to make configuration changes and IT staffing levels dedicated to managing its endpoint infrastructure, as well as a near 90 percent decline in spyware infection rates.

As a diversified financial services provider with a workforce of more than 55,000 worldwide, Countrywide offers a full range of financial services, including mortgage banking, banking, insurance, capital markets and global operations. To support these endeavors, the company must maintain high levels of availability and transaction integrity for its IT-supported business processes. Countrywide turned to BigFix based on its single agent, single point-of-management approach to optimizing security and configuration status and ability to reduce IT management costs and complexity.

Prior to deploying BigFix, Countrywide relied on multiple point solutions that were more costly to manage, lacked complete visibility into the security and configuration status and could not scale to effectively manage the company's highly distributed server environment. Configuration changes and patches were often deployed using a piecemeal approach in which administrators lacked the desired level of visibility and reporting capabilities to verify successful deployment.

With BigFix now deployed throughout Countrywide's infrastructure, IT administrators can leverage the features of the BigFix technology, including comprehensive visibility into every server on the network and the ability to identify, assess and remediate any necessary configuration changes in real-time.

The company has been impressed with BigFix technology's ability to manage mobile computers and reduce spyware infection rates. Mobile computers running the BigFix Agent can stay in compliance to relevant security configuration policies even when disconnected from the Countrywide network. Furthermore, mobile computers automatically connect to Countrywide over the Internet via a "DMZ" network segment to report status changes and receive updates every time they access the Internet.

Countrywide indicates that they have reduced spyware infection rates from approximately 50 percent to around six percent of managed machines since installation of the BigFix AntiPest powered by CA Pest Patrol anti-spyware client software--a near 90 percent reduction. Countrywide regards the residual six percent infection rate as eminently manageable as it reflects new spyware that appears as soon as old spyware gets removed from systems.

"The BigFix presence at Countrywide has grown from an initial deployment on 9,000 servers to over 75,000 desktop, mobile and server computers today," says Ted Kieffer, manager, systems architecture at Countrywide. "We've been very impressed with the ability of BigFix to upgrade security, improve staff productivity and improve the overall quality of system management. The adoption of BigFix as a de-facto company standard is well-deserved based on the overall value of the solution."

On a distributed network with administrators and servers scattered across the country, Countrywide has experienced results since the BigFix deployment that include:

--Configuration changes that previously took days or weeks to deploy can now be completed within a matter of hours.

--Strict service level agreements imposed by IT management that were often missed with the previous solutions are now consistently met.

--The efficiency of BigFix technology has decreased the amount of dedicated IT administrator resources required to maintain server configurations by 75 percent.

--Countrywide can actively manage mobile and laptop computers even when disconnected from the Countrywide network.

--Centralized visibility and reporting allows IT management to delegate server management to multiple owners and track compliance from a single point of control.

"Countrywide and many large companies are turning to single management platforms to cover multiple security configuration management needs. BigFix is demonstrating its ability to deliver benefits at many levels and in many corners of IT infrastructures," says Dave Robbins, president and CEO at BigFix. "BigFix's comprehensive single-agent security configuration management solution helps streamline IT processes, improves security and compliance status, and has ultimately driven down costs for Countrywide and more than 500 other companies globally."

About BigFix, Inc.

Founded in 1997, BigFix is the category leader in security configuration management software, services and solutions for real-time visibility and control of computers across the distributed enterprise. BigFix solutions are proven in production at more than 500 companies, government agencies and public sector institutions worldwide and currently manage over 5.3 million desktop and mobile clients, workstations and servers. The company has received numerous awards and industry recognitions, including the 2005 Codie award for "Best Security Product" and the SC Magazine "Product of the Year" recognition in 2004 and eWeek's "Analyst's Choice" award in 2006. For more information, visit www.bigfix.com.

BigFix and the BigFix logo are trademarks of BigFix, Inc. Other trademarks, registered trademarks and service marks are property of their respective owners.

Countrywide Financial Corporation and its subsidiaries are not affiliated with BigFix and are not responsible for the products or services provided by BigFix.