Novell Introduces ZENworks 11, the Industry’s First Unified Security Solution

Novell, the leader in intelligent workload management, today announced a preview of Novell® ZENworks® 11, the industry’s first "single pane of glass" solution for Security. Designed to address the rapidly converging markets of PC lifecycle management and endpoint security, ZENworks 11 helps enterprise customers lower the cost and risk of managing devices across physical, virtual, and cloud environments, while dramatically simplifying near-term needs such as Windows* 7 migrations. Accompanying the ZENworks 11 preview is the release of Novell Service Desk, a new product which enables enterprises to centrally manage help desk incidents, improve customer service, and align with industry best practices such as ITIL.

"As organizations increasingly rely on virtual and cloud-based applications and desktops, the need for solutions that transcend physical device management is critical," said Fred Broussard, research director, PC, Device and IT Service Management Software analyst at IDC. "IT executives, IT managers and administrators will need solutions that can provision, track and manage the software and identify hardware on PCs as they look to implement desktop management across the cloud and virtual environments, as well as the existing desktop."

ZENworks 11 represents an extensive upgrade to the Security solutions from Novell and now includes four fully-integrated products in one unified platform: ZENworks Configuration Management, ZENworks Endpoint Security, ZENworks Asset Management and ZENworks Patch Management. This new platform delivers a single, integrated console and agent where IT administrators can manage desktops, patch applications, secure endpoints, and track software license compliance with the precise tools they need, exactly when they need them.

"ZENworks enables us to manage and secure our Windows platforms and devices, in any location, allowing our IT administrators to operate more efficiently while reducing costs," said Ty Muscat, director, Global IT Shared Services at Watts Water Technologies. "The ZENworks platform has made it possible for us to simply and painlessly migrate our U.S. offices to Windows 7. We couldn’t have made the move without it. In fact, we were so impressed with the results we are exploring how ZENworks can help migrations in our Chinese and European offices."

Key features of ZENworks 11 include:

• Unified Console and Agent – Enables administrators to use four key ZENworks products from the same easy-to-use, web console, leveraging a single adaptive agent, simplifying agent deployment and minimizing footprint on the endpoint device.
• Identity-based Management – Goes beyond managing physical endpoints, allowing IT administrators to understand the identity of users so those users get the precise applications and tools based on their roles and responsibilities – regardless of what device they use.
• Location Awareness – Gives organizations the ability to detect when users are outside of "safe" networks and utilizes policies to dynamically adjust user access and security postures based on where they are using their endpoint devices.
• Power Management – Enables administrators to implement policies to configure Windows power management settings and perform out-of-band power management tasks using Intel* vPro*.
• Expanded Platform Support – Now includes management of both Linux* and Windows endpoints from a single console.

A member of the WorkloadIQ™ solutions from Novell, ZENworks 11 is a major milestone in the company’s efforts to meet the growing demand for intelligent workload management solutions. Intelligent workload management helps companies leverage existing IT assets to realize the significant cost benefits offered by new models including virtualization and cloud computing, and provides them with the necessary tools to securely manage their IT services across organizational and geographical boundaries.

"The Security market is growing, with the convergence of IT operations and security continuing to be one of the main drivers for new solutions in the space," said Jim Ebzery, senior vice president and general manager for Security, Management and Operating Platforms at Novell. "Novell ZENworks 11, with its identity-based and policy-driven approach, will be key in meeting the demands of users today and in the future. Novell ZENworks 11 lets organizations create intelligent workloads built around identity, compliance policies and management capabilities. This integration allows organizations to seamlessly manage and secure desktops both inside and outside their corporate network."