Endpoint Protection

We are an educational instituation - and a long time Symantec customer - well over a decade.  We license a host of Symantec products, but I'd like to focus on Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP).  We install SEP on all university-owned computers, as well as provide it to all students (in fact we require it to connect to our network and enforce with a NAC solution).  Of course we can control OS upgrades on university-owned assets to accommodate Symantec's (sometimes painfully) delayed product updates to enable support for new operating systems, but we cannot do so on student-owned computers.  With a BYOD environment, we need to have product updates on day 1 of a new operating system release.  Today, students are upgrading to Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan, and we do not have an officially supported version of SEP to provide them that is compatible with El Capitan.  We need Symantec to provide us with a timeline of when an updated version of SEP will be compatible so that we can plan accordingly.  It seems like we need to do this "song and dance" for SEP compatibility releases for each new OS that is released.  Even if a product update cannot be provided right on time - it is imperative that Symantec be more transparent in its plans and at least provide the date it will be available as institutions need to be able to plan.  Vague answers, such as "in the near future" or "in a few weeks" is not practical for planning in the enterprise environment.  It should also not require opening up an enterprise support case just to get this information.  It is very frustrating that Symantec cannot have product releases, especially critical apps, such as antivirus protection, available the same day as a public release of a new operating system.  There are developer and beta releases of new operating systems released months in advance for Symantec to do product development and testing on, it would be appreciated to have Symantec product releases on time with new OS releases - especially when BYOD is involved where institutions cannot control OS updates on the BYOD systems.

Regards,

Brady Gallese

Susquehanna University

This is closest one I know of:

OS X compatibility with Endpoint Protection for Mac

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH131045

I would subscribe to the article so you get notified of any new updates.

Also a blurb here about it:

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/symantec-endpoint-protection-has-failed-install-contact-your-it-administrator#comment-11392481

Hi Brady,

I totally echo your view, but hope this reply of Chetan answers your question. https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/need-assistance-participate-sepm-beta-projects#comment-11392511

if i am not wrong the new version of SEP is due for mid of October. lets keep our fingers crossed.

Luckily, they released the new version of SEP this afternoon.  Let's hope this pattern of timely releases for new OS's continues - I used to have to wait weeks after a new OS was publicly released to get a Symantec product update with little to no concrete information from Symantec to plan with.  I'm still strongly encouraging them to start publishing public release dates for their updates so that enterprise customers have a concrete timeframe in which to plan around.

A new version for Mac only? Didn't see anythig released.

Nope, the entire SEP installation package for 12.1.6 MP2 was available in the my Symantec portal.

It's official per the release notes as well:

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH231877

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• BYOD concerns by Customers is fair and Symantec need to communicate the Launch dates or Specific dates to release to existing customers who are adopting new platforms due to BYOD or business agility needs.

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• If due to any reasons the launch cannot be QA delivered then BETA release to licensed customers ensures Customers have fair reply and timelines to its existing process and roll out.

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• Luckily the new version are released:

• SEP 12.1.6 includes support for Windows 10. 

• SEP 12.1.6 MP2 introduces support for Mac OS 10.11 (El Capitan).

• Both the Operating Systems crucially required the SEP to be rolled out.

MD