Connect and Protect Symantec Endpoint Protection -The Market Leader

1. Your role in the organization/company (CTO, CIO, CEO, SysAdmin, etc)?

Myself Ajit Jha, the Security Consultant, Presales representative as well as TechSupport Engineer for my organization. My core domain is Symantec Products. Our organization is basically a Software reseller and service provider. We deal with maximum sort of Software including Symantec and provide the services as well. We are a Silver Level partner of Symantec. We are the largest reseller in Eastern India.

My first role in my organization is to provide consultancy and then the proof-of-concept (POC) to our customers. Once the proof-of-concept is successful, I further proceed with the service  - which is Service after Sales. Service includes Installation of various Symantec Products like Symantec Endpoint Protection, Symantec Backup Exec and Symantec System Recovery. After the installation is successful, I configure them according to the customer’s demand. This was the first step of my service to the customer. If the customer faces any sort of issue related to these products I use to provide them the support to rectify those problems. I lead a separate team of 5 members, who work according to my direction and projects.

Our company has provided a LAB for us to train ourselves accordingly, where we have all the required machines along with the software and platform with us. Whenever we use to get free time we use to utilize that opportunity for our technical growth. All my members including me are Symantec Technical Specialist.

2. What was your data protection criteria, concerns and related issues, and how did Symantec Endpoint Protection resolve them?

Basically it is our valuable customers who had the concern about their data protection in terms of Unauthorized Access, Virus, Spyware, Malware attack which can create  real damage. In today’s market, management’s main concern is the restricted access without which Data is Unsecure. The Cyber-crime in terms of Virus/Spyware activities is another area of concern for all of us for which the protection has to be up-to-date and must be capable of handling all sorts of Heuristic activities. The non- Technical users, who are unaware of the results for the unnecessary activities, are the main concern for management. Even though an organization may have the basic security implemented in their network for their data protection, there are users which have the authority to use that data, but they can be affecting the data in terms of their unaware activities(Virus/Spyware infection) which can cause damage to the data.

Symantec Endpoint Protection is always standing "in front" for resolving these concerns with its advanced technologies and the features enabled. As we all know, Symantec Endpoint protection is the first Antivirus which has for the Application and Device Control feature in it to restrict the valuable Data access. The inbuilt Firewall based on Packet Filtering Technology of Symantec Endpoint Protection takes care of the network activities. Intrusion Prevention, etc.,  Signature based technology is the Firewall for the Known Threats.  With the help of Symantec Endpoint Protection management we can restrict the users to access unwanted DNS like adult sites, chatting sites, etc. and even the unwanted applications used by the users.

So keeping all these concerns for the Data protection, Symantec Endpoint Protection has fulfilled the requirements of the management in resolving these issues. Other Antivirus competitors in the market are trying to compete with Symantec Endpoint Protection, but based on my experience,  SEP is the user’s First choice for their Data Protection.

3. What were the strategic or financial reasons you chose Symantec Endpoint Protection Solutions?

There are numerous strategic and financial reasons why I chose Symantec Endpoint Protection solutions. A few of them are mentioned below:-
1. Reliability: Symantec Endpoint Protection is very reliable in terms of the data protection.
2. Understandability: Understanding the product is very important before using it. Symantec Endpoint Protection is easy to understand.
3. Flexibility: The product should be flexible to use and Symantec Endpoint protection is very flexible.
4. Maintainability: The product should be easy to maintain in terms of proper production, so that the organization should not be concerned about hiring a maintenance engineer.
5. Technology: The technology of the product should be advanced enough to compete in the market and the SEP Technology has the same.
6. Security:  Symantec Endpoint Protection is capable of securing the network of any organization with its advanced featured technologies.
7. Cost: Cost really matters to the low budget organizations but though we are a Silver partner of Symantec we use to get the best price for our customers, so with the support of Symantec Sales Team we are able to manage Symantec Endpoint Protection in their budget.

Again Cost doesn’t really matter for the organization with the good budget. If we think of Total Security we need a Firewall either an UTM or Software firewall for the Gateway Protection, Antivirus for the Desktop Security and any Application software for the Access Control and a mail Scanning software for the mail server. If an organization purchases all of these separately, it would cost much more than a SEP Price. Whereas If they go for Symantec Multitier Protection they will get these in a bundle for very reasonable price.

4. What were the technical criteria/reasons you chose Symantec Endpoint Protection Solutions?

Again there are many technical criteria/reasons to choose Symantec Endpoint Protection Solutions. Some of them follow:
1. Deployment: The deployment of Symantec Endpoint Protection is very intuitive and has many methods to deploy like remote deployment, Deployment using Active Directory and Altiris -  which will fit in any network.
2. Requirements: The System and other requirements are not very high for the implementation of SEP in network. So it can fit in even low budget environments.
3. Configuration: Configuring SEP uses "policies" which are very helpful.
4. Management: SEP has the management Console for managing the Symantec Endpoint  network.  This network reduces the manpower and the time involved in maintenance. 
5. Firewall: The in-built firewall of SEP has lots of functionality in it which will ensure network protection.
6. Replication: Replication or Load balancing is essential for the site-to-site replication in case of fail over -  in a huge network where clients remain active for protection.
8. Reporting: Reporting features of Symantec Endpoint Protection is very good and helps the administrator in maintaining the reports according to the demand of the management. We can filter the report category wise. It can also create a scheduled report if a mail server is present.
9. Backup: The backup and restoration is very important feature of SEP for the Disaster Recovery.
10. GUP: Group Update Provider feature can minimize the use of network bandwidth for updating the clients.
11. Scan: The Scanning features like Active, Full, Custom Scanning with Clean, Delete and Quarantine Actions prevents system data from for malicious programs.

5. Symantec was the right choice because...?

It possessed all the requirements of our clients and organization in terms of security and data Protection. Symantec fulfilled all the criteria to eliminate  any malicious activities. The level of Support which Symantec provides to the end users in case of any trouble is up to mark. The Knowledge base articles, forums and the Tech Support team really help a lot in handling any issues related to Symantec Endpoint Protection. The security response team of Symantec really works hard in terms of virus protection with their quick release of updates, which is very important for any Virus outbreak. The Sensors located in many parts of the Globe monitor the network Traffic.  Reliability, manageability, security, etc. are the reason why Symantec is my Choice.

6. How has your Symantec Security Solutions helped you be more successful?

The best Endpoint Security product till the date for security. It eased the pressure from us in maintaining. The level of troubleshooting is very appropriate from the previous version. It is very entertaining while playing with it. SEP has made the Admin job comfortable.