Aprisma product manages security

Security measures—ranging from firewalls to intrusion-detection devices—are among the most important tools used in federal information technology offices. But the key to such tools lies in how easily administrators can manage them and how quickly they can respond to possible breaches.

It's with this "security management" idea in mind that Aprisma Management Technologies today introduced Spectrum Security Manager.

SSM offers government and commercial customers a centralized solution for managing security applications and networks from a single console, said Trent Waterhouse, director of product marketing for Aprisma, a provider of service-level intelligence software.

"We're not enforcing security, we're managing it," Waterhouse said. "We're managing security with respect to networks, systems and applications. It's a unified view."

Plus, it can streamline operations. The federal agency piloting SSM used to need three full-time staff members to manage security. With SSM, it takes one person a half-day to do the same work, Waterhouse said. He could not name the agency because of a non-disclosure agreement.

SSM's features include:

Providing a correlation between all security infrastructure devices. Enabling management of security solutions from multiple vendors. Producing security audit trails. Providing real-time alerts to potential breaches. Providing Web-based management. Offering users the ability to view the security and service delivery network from the same console. SSM is scalable for firewalls, routers, intrusion-detection systems, security scanners, antivirus and other security systems for a small group of users to thousands or even millions, Waterhouse said.

The system costs $90,000 for every geographic installation and will be available in the second quarter of this year, Waterhouse said. It can take from two weeks to six months for a complete installation, depending on the size and number of installations.

Security management is a new area for Aprisma, which had focused mainly on service-level intelligence solutions through its Spectrum suite of management software.

Spectrum looks across networks, computers and applications to identify what is causing a slowdown or breakdown, and to propose how to solve it, Waterhouse said. The product is used by many federal agencies, including NASA, the U.S. Postal Service and the Navy.