SAN DIEGO, Microsoft Management Summit, April 25, 2006 -- FullArmor, the leader in enterprise policy management, today announced GPAnywhere for SMS, which enables organizations to use Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 to define and apply Group Policy settings on endpoints outside of Active Directory. In addition, GP Anywhere for SMS simplifies the deployment of Active Directory by enforcing policies on Windows 2000 and Windows XP desktops until the rollout is complete. FullArmor will demonstrate GPAnywhere for SMS at Microsoft Management Summit Booth 120.
Enforcing Group Policy outside the Directory
To broaden the reach of Group Policy's security and management capabilities beyond the confines of Active Directory, GPAnywhere for SMS takes advantage of the SMS 2003 infrastructure. Using GPAnywhere for SMS, organizations can continuously apply and enforce all the configuration settings offered by Active Directory (as well as FullArmor's Group Policy extensions) on machines that are not connected to an Active Directory domain.
Policy Creation from SMS
For fast and easy policy management, GPAnywhere for SMS allows administrators to create and deliver executable Group Policy Objects (GPO) directly from the native SMS 2003 console. In addition, GPAnywhere for SMS ships with three pre-configured templates (high, medium, and low) that contain a fixed set of policy settings based on Microsoft best security practices. These templates enable administrators with no knowledge of Microsoft Group Policy to easily secure machines. To create custom templates, GPAnywhere includes a Policy Template Designer that enables administrators to simply point and click to select or unselect desired Group Policy settings.
"The ability to deliver and enforce Group Policy on machines that are not connected to Active Directory domains helps enable enterprises to maintain more secure and consistent configurations on all their machines," said Felicity McGourty, director of product Marketing at Microsoft Corp. "By integrating Group Policy creation, management and delivery within Systems Management Server 2003, FullArmor is not only enabling policy enforcement on machines outside Active Directory domains, but also making it faster and easier than before."
"Many large enterprises have made a significant investment in Systems Management Server for software distribution and administration, and would like to use this infrastructure for managing policy on machines that are outside their Active Directory domain," said Danny Kim, CTO for FullArmor. "GPAnywhere for SMS makes it possible to create and package Group Policy Objects from the familiar SMS console and apply these settings to any endpoint."
Centralized Software and Policy Deployment
To streamline the deployment of GPOs, GPAnywhere for SMS creates a stand-alone executable file (EXE) which contains the desired settings. These executable files are then delivered to endpoints by SMS, where the executable is run on the target machines and updates the Local Group Policy Object.
Pricing and Availability
GPAnywhere for SMS will be available from FullArmor and its business partners next month. It supports Windows 2000 Server or higher operating systems. Pricing starts at $6 per managed machine, and $1,250 for the GPAnywhere management console.
About FullArmor
FullArmor Corporation develops software that helps organizations manage their IT environment more securely and effectively while leveraging their investments in Group Policy and Active Directory. The company is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. More than 5 million users and 1,500 organizations worldwide rely on technology developed by FullArmor. For more information visit us on the web at www.fullarmor.com or call 800.653.1783.
FullArmor, IntelliPolicy and the FullArmor logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of FullArmor Corporation. Other FullArmor product or service names are trademarks of FullArmor Corporation; all other products, services and company names noted above may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Editorial Contact: Marc Gendron, 781-237-0341, marc@mgpr.net
