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The 3X Systems Backup appliance is a great way to automatically backup a collection of PCs and servers across the Internet at reasonable cost.

We tested version 2.1.6 in August 2009 on a small network of Windows clients and servers.
Windows agents available for 2000 and later versions, including both servers and 64-bit OS’s.

Pros:
• Easy to setup and operate
• Simple and effective offsite backups
• Can scale up storage as disk requirements grow

Cons:
• Only Windows agents supported
• Require recent browser versions such as IE v7 and Firefox v2
• Restoring full domain controller or specific email messages could be easier

Price: base system starts at $2,495.00

3X Systems

1275 Kinnear Road,
Columbus Ohio 43212
614.372.6868

http://3x.com

A fairly sophisticated messaging server that has wide-ranging policy management for data leak protection, message encryption, email sender reputation, and message routing purposes.

Price: Less than $13 per user, with a minimum of 1000 users.

Pros:

• Very complex message routing processes can be constructed for a wide variety of purposes
• Compliance and governance can be built into messaging infrastructure
• Sendmail is a leading email server software and supports a large number of third-party applications

Cons:

• Still some integration into a single Web server for management purposes
• Policies can be fairly complex and require careful debugging

Version 4.0 was tested on a small network in August 2009.

Sendmail Inc.

6475 Christie Ave., Suite 350

Emeryville, CA  94608

510-594-5400

http://sendmail.com

Symantec Corp.
20330 Stevens Creek Blvd.
Cupertino, CA 95014

We looked at several products available from Symantec to help provide insight into how to reduce overall enterprise disk storage requirements and cost. The video touches on several strategies that enterprise IT managers can employ to analyze their storage use.

Symantec NetBackup Pure Disk v6.5

http://www.symantec.com/business/netbackup-puredisk

Veritas Command Central Storage v5.1

http://www.symantec.com/business/commandcentral-storage

Symantec Enterprise Vault v8.0

http://www.symantec.com/business/enterprise-vault

Veritas Storage Foundation v5.0

http://www.symantec.com/business/storage-foundation

PacketShaper 900
Blue Coat Systems
410 N. Mary Ave.
Sunnyvale, CA 94085
(408) 220-2200

http://bluecoat.com

Price: $2,500 base price

We tested a PacketShaper 900 on a small test network showing how it can discover, classify and prioritize application traffic. We address four different questions that IT managers have about understanding how bandwidth-consuming applications interact over their networks, and how individual applications can be controlled for particular use cases.

A single-sign on, two-factor authentication portal that is easy to setup and deploy for both internal and external Web and other resources.

Price: $30 per user per year subscription service (or $3/mo/user)
Requirements: Runs on Windows IE v6 and above, Firefox v3 on both Windows and Mac
We tested the service on a variety of browsers on both computers during June 2009.

Pros:
 Simple to setup and deploy without any programming or security skills required
 Hosted service, no software to install on the desktop
 Powerful management controls for business users

Cons:
 Reports and event logging somewhat difficult to parse
 Doesn’t completely support Safari browsers

MyOneLogin.com
Tricipher Corp.

http://www.myonelogin.com/

650.376.8326
750 University Avenue
 #260,
 Los Gatos CA 95032

An easy-to-use security application that includes anti-virus and intrusion protection that is very affordable and accessible for small business networks.

We tested RC of v12 on a small network running Windows Server 2003 and XP machines.

Pros: Simple to install and to setup default automatic protection, reports easy to understand, priced competitively with anti-virus only solutions
Cons: Only protects Windows PCs; default isn’t to replace built-in Windows firewall
Price: Server licensed free, with $44.99 MSRP per client with volume and competitive discounts available
Free 30-day trial for unlimited licenses

Supports: Windows XP (SP 1 or later), 2000/2003/2008 Servers, NOT on Vista
Symantec’s Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition
Symantec.com
20330 Stevens Creek Blvd.
Cupertino, CA 95014

HyTrust offers managers and administrators of VMware’s ESX virtual infrastructure a centralized, single point of control for hypervisor configuration, compliance, and access management that is both secure and easy to use through ordinary Web browsers.

We tested the RC version of the product in March 2009 by making a remote connection to HyTrust’s own test lab.

Supports:

• ESX version 3.5 only (not ESXi)
• Works with Internet Explorer and Firefox, most current versions.
• Both Windows Server 2003/2008 domain controllers

Price: $7,500 for the appliance ($3,000 for software only) plus $500 per CPU ESX socket protected plus 25% for maintenance and support per year. Free version available to protect up to three ESX hosts but without any support contract.

Pros:

• A solid collection of tools to secure your VMware ESX infrastructure
• Integrates with Active Directory and VMware vCenter policies
• Fully functional freeware version allows for experimenting and learning before purchase

Cons:

• Limited to ESX currently
• Log viewer could be better integrated into the product

HyTrust Appliance 1975 W. El Camino Real, Suite 203 Mountain View, CA 94040 650-681-8100

hytrust.com

An online backup server that covers a wide range of servers and services, this latest version includes the ability to protect Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange servers, VMware Infrastructure, and other sophisticated environments.

We tested Version 12.5 on a small test network with Windows Server 2008 and Mac and Windows clients.

Requirements: Windows 2000/2003/2008 Servers,
Price: $995 for one license, additional agents varies in price from $395 to $3195, depending on what you need to backup.

Symantec Corp.

http://symantec.com/backupexec

20330 Stevens Creek Blvd.
Cupertino, CA 95014

Pros:

• Easy to setup and operate
• Free 60 day trial helps you test out the service and become familiar with its operation
• Granular Recovery Technology allows easy restoration of accidentally deleted files, emails, or documents.
• VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V virtual server data protection that is easy to manage
• Integrated online backup for flexible off-site data protection

Cons:

• Some of the menus are a bit densely packed, such as the Job Setup screens
• This is not a product for single server environments (there is a separate version for Microsoft’s Small Business Server that is more appropriate)

The suite covers three separate products that have been acquired over the years by Symantec for applications delivery via streaming or virtual layers and a connection broker technology that allows enterprises to manage the way their applications are packaged and delivered to users’ desktops.

We tested Version 6.1 on various test machines in February 2009.

Requirements: Windows XP SP 1 or better with Java J2SE Runtime 5.0 update 6, Windows Server 2003/2008, Windows 2000, Windows Vista

Price: $360 (concurrent license), $270 (per node) for entire suite, Streaming + Virtualization $68, Virtualization only $44. Substantial volume license discounts.

Pros:
• Powerful software management for multiple use cases so that enterprises can configure and deliver a wide variety of applications and situations
• Granular virtualization layer technology
• Competitive price for the features that are included
Cons:
• Complex setup with multiple moving parts
• No common policy management across the various software modules
• Multiple management consoles for each software module

Symantec Endpoint Virtualization Suite
Symantec Corp.

http://symantec.com/

20330 Stevens Creek Blvd.
Cupertino, CA 95014

TrustedSource and other sites are used to answer questions such as – is someone sending spam that looks like it is coming from my domain, called spoofing? Has my Web site been compromised recently? Do I have an open relay email server that I don’t know about? The Internet is a nasty place, and the idea that a service can be watching globally for exploits is a good one.

TrustedSource.org
Secure Computing Inc.
55 Almaden Boulevard, Suite 500
San Jose, CA 95113
408.494.2020

Category: Internet reputation management
Free service, although registration required for additional features
Summary: TrustedSource has a variety of tools to investigate spoofing, spamming, and bot net proliferation that is taking place using your domain names. It is also included as part of a series of products offered by Secure Computing and others as a way of providing real-time threat blocking services.
Pros: Easy to use, a wide variety of information is presented in clear detail
Cons: It is a lot like brushing your teeth; you need to develop a daily habit of checking your site.