Johannesburg, 23 Jul 2004
Computer Associates International, Inc today announced that it successfully partnered with Microsoft in spearheading the management and security of the event networking environment at Microsoft`s Worldwide Partner Conference last week in Toronto.
Combining CA`s industry-leading Unicenter and eTrust solutions with proven best practices for managing and securing complex, rapidly deployed trade show technology infrastructure, CA`s Technology Services team delivered 100% uptime during the event - despite the wide range of cyber-assaults launched against it.
This was the second time in recent months that CA led management and security operations for a major Microsoft event. In May, CA played a similar role at Microsoft`s TechEd 2004 conference and delivered similarly impressive results.
CA worked with other supporting partners involved in Microsoft`s Network Management and Security Initiative (NMSI), including Hewlett-Packard, Juniper Networks, AirMagnet, SteelCloud, APC and Fluke Networks.
"CA has again met and exceeded our expectations for providing a secure and robust network to support our attendee needs as well as the overall event infrastructure. These efforts - amid the intense technical and logistical challenges of supporting and securing a large-scale, multi-vendor IT industry event - are a great example of partnership, deep experience and solid technology," said Jon Bromberg, Director of Events, Microsoft. "We are delighted that our World Partner Conference attendees and exhibitors were able to have a uniformly positive experience as they made use of the wired and wireless infrastructure we provided for them."
More than 8 500 technology partners and professionals attended WPC, Microsoft`s premiere conference for industry partners. The show`s extensive IT environment had many of the characteristics of a typical enterprise, with a wide variety of servers, storage devices, wired and wireless networks and applications providing critical services. The environment included more than 1 100 workstations, 4 000+ wireless connections and 50 000 feet of cabling spread out over three large multi-floor complexes.
Adding to the management challenge was the fact that the entire environment had to be deployed in just nine days.
Applying best practices based on years of experience with heterogeneous environments, the CA Technology Services Team once again deployed its mobile command centre solution to provide a full range of critical systems and network management functions and the security countermeasures to fend off potential assaults.
Among the security problems interdicted by the CA-designed Security Network Operations Centre for the WPC were:
* Multiple instances of "Back Orifice" and other malicious code detected but unsubstantiated.
* Improper use of PCs to access unauthorised HTTP addresses.
* Portable DHCP servers attempting to distribute unauthorised IP addresses.
* E-mails infected with Trojans and worms designed to propagate themselves.
* Improperly configured handheld devices acting as unauthorised wireless access points.
* Spyware-infected users connecting to the network.
None of these events affected the availability of the network for attendees, nor did they compromise any critical systems on the network.
The Security Network Operations Centre for WPC 2004 was highly streamlined, correlating and identifying a few dozen root-cause incidents from approximately 18 000 separate alerts that required real-time action.
"Microsoft`s World Partner Conference was another unqualified success for CA, demonstrating once again that our world-class software and services can address the unique challenges of a rapidly deployed, highly sophisticated, heterogeneous computing environment," said Toby Weiss, senior vice-president of eTrust solutions at CA. "CA, people and technology are second to none in fulfilling the management and security requirements of global customers - ranging from an individual consumer with a single desktop PC to the largest corporate enterprise environments in the world."
Microsoft and CA have collaborated on a variety of security and infrastructure management initiatives. Last November, CA offered its eTrust EZ Armor consumer security product free-of-charge to all Windows users for one year as part of Microsoft`s "Protect Your PC" programme.
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