Microsoft delays Stirling Forefront security suite
Security software is now more essential than ever, with more threats coming at us from all angles from the Internet. Microsoft is working on a new integrated security suite as part of its Forefront software. Unfortunately, Stirling, as it is currently codenamed, has been delayed.
Stirling was first announced at TechEd 2007, and was originally scheduled for release in the first half of 2009. In a Forefront Team Blog post, it has now been announced that the security suite has been delayed. The Forefront Server Security for Exchange and Threat Management Gateway has been pushed back to the fourth quarter of 2009, with the Stirling management console, Forefront Client Security 2.0, and Forefront Security for SharePoint pushed back to the first half of 2010.
A beta has already been released and Microsoft has been gathering customer feedback as a result. Changes will now be made before a second public beta and release candidate are released prior to the product being finalized.
The main reason for the delay seems to be requests from customers in the Technology Adoption Program for more interoperability being Stirling and third party security solutions. As a result, Microsoft is now planning on spending more time focusing on the Security Assessment Sharing feature of Stirling. SAS “correlates security events from different Forefront products and third party solutions, enabling administrators to quickly investigate and remediate security events.”
Another feature of Stirling having more time and effort spent on it is the Dynamic Signature Service. This is intended to offer greater protection from zero day attacks.
Microsoft would do well to listen to its customers on this score because with the economy meaning tough decisions are being made in every company, getting Stirling wrong could spell disaster. With a range of security products already out on the market, Microsoft needs to make Stirling something special in order to persuade businesses to convert.
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