forefront endpoint protection software update point

First, there is the traditional view that Microsoft products don't hit their stride until Rev 3.0, so customers were willing to wait. Forefront did have momentum out of the gate in 2007 but it faced a few obstacles. So what happened? Here's a few of my thoughts:ġ. I got a consistent response, 'not really.' Wondering if it was me, I reached out to some analyst friends to see if Microsoft continues to discuss Forefront with others. From 2007 through 2009, Microsoft briefed me on Forefront progress and plans but then the company re-organized in 2010 and almost all communications stopped. I regularly speak with McAfee, Symantec, Trend and others who rarely if ever mention Microsoft as a primary competitor. In other words, the market was open to Microsoft - all it had to do was execute and beat the competition on price.įast forward to 2011 and Forefront seems like a blip on the endpoint security radar screen. Here at ESG, we had just done some market research revealing that: 1) Most security professionals looked at endpoint as a commodity product, and 2) They were already evaluating Forefront or were willing to do so. When Forefront was announced, Bob Muglia, who was VP of Microsoft's server and tools business stated, 'we think that this product will provide a level of integration and simplicity that really differentiates it, and really enables a different kind of solution.' Microsoft wasn't alone in its expectations. Microsoft was pretty bullish about its announcement. The industry wondered, 'would these powerful security companies get Netscaped? This created a market fire storm, especially at companies like McAfee, Symantec, and Trend Micro that depended on PC security for the bulk of their 2007 revenue. Forefront was positioned as the endpoint security market for the commercial market while its sister product, OneCare, was aimed at the consumer market.

Back in 2007, Microsoft shook the security world when it entered the endpoint security market with what was then called Forefront Client Security (now Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection).

Forefront endpoint protection software update point