Enterprise Configuration Manager 4.0 Slashes Systems and Security Management Costs with Role-Based Access and Automated Change Management.

Business/Technology Editors

WOODLAND PARK, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 22, 2002

User Roles Limit Permissions for Helps Desks,

Business Units, and Vertical IT Teams; Automation

Enables Enterprise-Wide Configuration Changes

Configuresoft, the Windows NT/2000 configuration management company, today announced Enterprise Configuration Manager (ECM) version 4.0, which significantly reduces the complexity and IT resources required to proactively manage system and security configurations across enterprise networks. To allow central IT departments to provide help desks, business units and vertical IT teams with controlled access to management powers and data, ECM 4.0 supports the creation of user roles for securely assigning granular administration capabilities. For faster and easier configuration change management in large networks, ECM 4.0 enables administrators to modify configuration settings on any machine or group of machines using automated point and click operations. In addition, ECM 4.0 erases client deployment issues with a new full functionality Web interface that is .Net-Ready and allows authorized users to manage systems from anywhere via a browser-enabled device.

"The ability to proactively manage constantly changing hardware, operating system, and application level configurations is a critical and difficult challenge facing IT organizations," said Audrey Rasmussen, Vice President of Enterprise Management Associates, a leading research and analyst firm specializing in management software and services. "Configuresoft's ECM 4.0 provides the capability to centrally manage configurations in large-scale, dynamic enterprise environments. It does this by being easier to deploy, it's scalable, and automates labor intensive tasks required to prevent security vulnerabilities and system downtime."

Role-Based Permissions for Controlled Access

To accelerate response times to problems and reduce administration bottlenecks, ECM 4.0 enables central IT departments to create customized user roles for securely and selectively providing access to ECM's functionality and configuration data. This allows enterprises to extend the value of ECM outside the data center and control, in granular fashion, which operations and data can be accessed by specific users and groups. For example, roles can be customized for the unique needs of help desks, remote administrators, and vertical IT teams such as security, Exchange, or SQL Server administrators. With ECM 4.0, administrators can create user roles that assign access permissions to specific machines or groups of machines, data elements, reports, and management actions.

ECM 4.0 enables IT departments to establish roles that are best suited for managing their specific infrastructure - by machine, applications, services, security, etc. In addition, user roles can be used to present strategic IT information to management. For example, a role created for a CIO could exclusively present key infrastructure reports that are required for management committee or board meetings. User roles also serve a crucial security function by protecting unauthorized access to the powerful new change management capabilities being introduced in ECM 4.0.

Automated Change Management

To enable faster and simpler configuration change management on an enterprise-scale, ECM 4.0 provides wizard-driven point and click facilities for taking automated corrective actions on any server or desktop in the network. This powerful new capability, which complements ECM's existing support for scripting, allows administrators to quickly and easily select a configuration setting and change it with one click on any machine or group of machines. To prevent unauthorized configuration changes, these automated change functions are protected by ECM 4.0's role-based security system, which will only grant access to users with the appropriate permissions.

Using ECM's comprehensive set of management actions, authorized administrators can modify configuration settings instantly or at scheduled intervals across the enterprise. These include:

Infrastructure

-- Disable a user account, or change a user account name or password

-- Create, delete, rename a group, or modify its membership

-- Modify account policy

-- Modify audit policy

-- Create or delete shares, and modify properties or permissions

-- Modify user rights

Security

-- Disable a user account, or change a user account name or password

-- Create, delete, rename a group, or modify its membership

-- Modify account policy

-- Modify audit policy

-- Create or delete shares, and modify properties or permissions

-- Modify user rights

"We designed ECM 4.0 from the ground up with the flexibility and power to adjust to a company's business processes, as opposed to forcing companies to adjust their businesses processes to the software," said Alexander Goldstein, Chief Executive Officer, Configuresoft. "Using ECM 4.0's role-based access control and automated change management capabilities enterprises can easily and safely extend a limited set of management capabilities outside the data center and automate manually intensive operations to improve IT service levels and reduce administration costs."

Web Client and New Reporting/Compliance Modules

For faster deployment and greater administrator mobility, ECM 4.0 provides a full functionality Web user interface that eliminates the need for enterprises to install and maintain client software. This new interface enables IT staff to manage systems from anywhere using a Web-browser enabled access device. By standardizing on a Web client, ECM 4.0 is ready to integrate with Microsoft's forthcoming .Net architecture and Microsoft Management Portal (MMP).

To enable administrators to rapidly pinpoint actionable configuration information they need for planning, proactive management, and auditing, ECM 4.0 features a completely redesigned reporting module. In addition to 300 packaged reports, the new module provides a wizard driven report creation tool for quickly creating new customized reports. For enhanced reporting capabilities, ECM 4.0 now integrates with Crystal reports. The reporting module is also fully integrated with ECM 4.0's User Roles to control who can view and modify specific reports for given machines. Finally, ECM 4.0 ships with a new compliance module that makes it easier to enforce corporate configuration and security standards by identifying machines that are out of compliance. From the compliance module, administrators can use ECM 4.0's robust change management capabilities to quickly reconfigure out-of-compliance machines.

About Enterprise Configuration Manager

ECM centralizes and automates the labor-intensive task of monitoring, managing, and auditing the hardware and software configurations of Windows NT/2000 systems deployed in large enterprise networks or Web server farms. ECM enables enterprises to efficiently and cost-effectively standardize server, workstation, and mobile system configurations, and keep them in compliance, to minimize downtime, prevent security vulnerabilities, accelerate problem resolution, reduce help desk calls, and enhance system performance. ECM can identify and help correct configuration problems before users even know they exist. ECM Security Update Manager, an add-on module for ECM, automates security patch management by alerting administrators of new security bulletins issued by Microsoft, instantly assessing entire networks to detect vulnerabilities, and deploying required patches to all the target machines with a single mouse click.

Pricing and Availability

Enterprise Configuration Manager 4.0 will be available next month from Configuresoft and its business partners worldwide. Pricing starts at $995 per server and $30 per workstation. ECM supports Windows NT/2000 Server, Windows NT Workstation 4.0, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP, and Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or higher.

Company Background

Founded in 1999, Configuresoft, Inc. develops software that centralizes, automates, and dramatically lowers the cost of desktop, notebook, and server configuration management for Windows NT/2000-based networks and Web sites. The company's products are designed specifically for, and run natively on, Windows NT/2000. Configuresoft's customers are Fortune 5000 companies that are deploying or planning to deploy large Windows NT/2000-based infrastructures. Configuresoft is privately held and headquartered in Woodland Park, Colorado. To contact Configuresoft, call 719.447.4600, visit us on the Web at http://www.configuresoft.com/, or write to [e-mail].