Vigilar Unveils Security-as-a-Service Solution

Relieves IT of tedious asset and license tracking, log management, authentication management, and systems maintenance duties

• By James E. Powell
• 06/18/2007

Vigilar today made available its new ATLAS security-as-a-service solution

The company says a survey of its enterprise customer base found that tracking, updating, and supporting existing devices was at the top on their list of time-consuming activities. Furthermore, industry and government regulations add time and technology burdens to IT staff who often must first focus on solving immediate problems. The company’s new ATLAS security-as-a-service provides enterprises with five key functions to address this problem: managed asset and license management, technical support, log management, authentication management, and systems maintenance. Offered as five modules (purchased separately or as a whole), ATLAS users an access their services and device status through a Web-based interface.

The Asset and License Management module tracks IT asset and license data, which a company must often maintain to conform to audit and compliance requirements. It can track key data including serial number, date of sale, location, and renewal date, according to Vigilar. Additionally, users can view historical snapshots for any point in time of their assets, summarize costs by cost center, and set up maintenance renewal reminders.

The Technical Support Concierge module helps IT quickly understand and escalate support issues. The module tracks trouble tickets, and Vigilar says it provides automatic escalation and round-the-clock access to product vendor technical specialists. With this functionality, IT can determine which assets are producing the most problems, Vigilar told Enterprise Systems.

The Log Management Service module provides “a secured, tamper-proof, automated audit trail for all system and application components,” according to Vigilar, to enable “reconstruction of all user activity and events, in accordance with PCI and Sarbanes-Oxley requirements.”

Vigital’s Authentication Management module provides “a fully managed turnkey solution for smooth implementation and on-going administration of various authentication platforms, implementing and managing customer's user accounts for various applications.”

Finally, the System Maintenance module offers automated patch management and other systems maintenance duties.

"Customers today are treading water trying to stay afloat in the vast ocean of security controls and compliance regulations. They are fighting just to keep their systems up to date, and to keep up with multiple compliance requirements," said Joel Hart, director of security architecture for Vigilar. "While not the most interesting part of their jobs, knowing what systems are in place and keeping them up to date is crucial to a strong security and compliance posture. With ATLAS, customers know these tasks are taken care of on a regular basis. And because ATLAS provides a Web-based interface, our customers can easily view and report on their security and compliance posture at any given time, taking a huge weight off their shoulders."

More information about the ATLAS service can be found at http://www.vigilar.com.