Viewfinity’s Privilege Management solution integrates directly with SCCM to provide extended visibility into privilege management policy usage status and information regarding privilege requests from end users. 

Many organizations use Microsoft SCCM for centralized PC life cycle management (deployment, inventory, and software management functions) but SCCM features do not provide application level privilege elevation controls, which are required in locked down environments.   

Viewfinity recognized the need to close the gap between desktop management and endpoint security through policy management.  Desktop administrators that are already using SCCM for desktop and systems management functions are able to leverage their existing SCCM infrastructure for privilege management reporting from one management console.  Using Viewfinity, IT Administrators are able to create detailed policies that control when and how least privilege users access applications and desktop functions. The integration allows IT Administrators to monitor the privilege policies in addition to the base configuration management features that are provided in SCCM. These SCCM reporting capabilities are beneficial for tracking which policies are active, which applications are running with elevated rights, which are blocked, and for applications that users are requesting additional permissions. 

Viewfinity’s Privilege Management solution integrates directly with SCCM to provide extended visibility into privilege management policy usage status and information regarding privilege requests from end users. 

Read more on the solution by following the link below:

http://www.viewfinity.com/Products/PrivilegeManagement/SCCM.aspx

Download the software for evaluation and testing in your environment.

Many organizations look at the migration to Windows 7 as an opportune time to re-evaluate polices associated with granting local administrator rights to users on Windows system.  There are a number of advantages when end users do not have local administrative rights on their Windows desktops.  These include:

-         Less chance for malware to successfully attack the system.   When the end user doesn’t have local administrator rights, the malware that tries to exploit vulnerabilities in software such as media players, mail clients, and internet browsers is much less likely to succeed.   A locked down desktop doesn’t eliminate the need for firewall, AV, and other security software, however it certainly does provide another layer of defense against malware.

-         Reduce chance for the end user to make unauthorized changes to the system.   When users are not able to make unauthorized changes to their system there is less chance for something to break that will lead to a support call from the user.   The more changes that are made to a system the more chance that there will be system or application errors introduced.  Locking down the desktop results in a more stable and predictable computing environment for the end users.

-         Better control on which applications are installed and used on the system.   When end users do not have local administrator rights there are many applications that they can no longer install.   This helps organizations better ensure compliance with software license counts.  Controlling which applications are installed and run on the desktop also limits the chances for application incompatibility issues.

-         Fewer support calls to the IT helpdesk.   When end users are running in an environment that is more stable from a perspective of system changes and applications that are installed, there are problems that the end user encounters.  This results in fewer calls to the IT helpdesk.   

11 tools for Windows 7 Migrations – Part 10 – Viewfinity User Migration
By Jon Brodkin, Network World, 9/27/2010

These software tools make upgrading to Microsoft's new operating system a lot easier

Product name: Viewfinity User Migration
Manufacturer: Viewfinity
Price: $10 to $25 per desktop

Key features: Viewfinity User Migration is wizard-based software that works with Microsoft’s User State Migration Tool “and adds out-of-the-box automation for multiple-user migration, all from a centralized status and monitoring console,” allowing automatic movement of settings and user data without the need for custom scripting.

http://www.networkworld.com/slideshows/2010/092710-windows-7-migration-tools.html#slide11

Viewfinity was mentioned in a Wall Street Journal article this week.  Below is an excerpt with a link to the full article.

Though there’s nuances to each product, most of the small companies in this sector are either providing a subscription service with a lower price tag and ability to incorporate mobile workers in the platform, or selling virtual desktop technologies that enable customers to get a better handle on management by storing all their desktops inside the data center.

Here’s a sampling of start-ups and small companies trying to change this sector:

Viewfinity Inc. is selling a subscription service geared towards smaller companies that don’t have the means to buy and run a traditional PC management suite. Since the service runs over the Internet, it easily pulls mobile workers under its umbrella- something that’s difficult from the traditional on-premise vendors to accomplish. Investors include Giza Venture Capital, JK&B Capital and Longworth Venture Partners.

Read the full article: http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2010/07/26/start-ups-look-to-disrupt-stodgy-pc-management-space/

Viewfinity Windows 7 User Migration Product

Independent MVP Product Review

Conducted by:

Matthew Hudson                                                     

MCTS, MVP - Configuration Manager                                                    

Network Coordinator, Information Technology Services

"I was very impressed with your product.  It definitely made profile migration a breeze!  It was a big time saver."

The Viewfinity User Migration application is a great tool with potential to create a seamless and effortless migration of user files and settings between Windows XP and Windows 7.   The advantage over other products is the lack of application installation required on the host or target machines as well as the ability to put the time frame for migration of data into the hands of the users.  I simply copied the USMT folder from my SCCM server to my console machine. 

Read the complete product review here:  http://www.viewfinity.com/Resources/MVPReviews/MVPMigrationReviewerSummary.pdf    

As the feature sets of PC lifecycle management (PCLM) suites have increased, so has the complexity of their software. Organizations that don't allocate enough effort to properly manage the PCLM infrastructure are often unable to provide the desired level of service to their users.

For this and many other reasons, cloud-based solutions are emerging for a variety of systems management functions. Just as some companies are well-suited for cloud-based CRM, some companies are more well-suited than others for cloud-based PCLM. Is your company one of them? Dwain Kinghorn, Partner at SageCreek Partners and member of the Viewfinity Board, addresses this issue in greater detail on ebizQ: http://bit.ly/9acbxS.

You can download Dwain’s complete white paper from Viewfinity here: http://bit.ly/9HPNoh

-New OS Image Deployment, Patch Management, Privilege Management and Interactive Dashboard Features Continue Viewfinity’s Commitment to Customers-

Waltham, MA – June 14, 2010 – Viewfinity (www.viewfinity.com), the innovator of privilege and systems management, today released version 3.0 of its solution suite. Nearly 3 months after its debut launch into the market, Viewfinity continues to make good on its commitment to customer-led product development and to build products that are critically needed in the market.

See the new features and updates in a live webcast demonstration, June 16th at 11:45 am ET

Register here to attend: http://www.viewfinity.com/Resources/LiveDemo.aspx?reg=sm

Additional Viewfinity features / functionality include:

· Privilege Management: administrators can create policies that will execute scripts without needing to assign local administrator rights to the end user; identify applications that require administrator rights, and permit or block the use of child processes

· OS Deployment: creates an exact disk image of the laptop/desktop including the operating system, configuration files and all applications and deploys the image to multiple systems simultaneously, making it ideal for rapid bare-metal installations (OS deployment via Acronis Snap Deploy)

· Patch Management: fully manages the distribution of updates released through Microsoft Update to computers in your network as well as mobile computers not connected to the internal network

· Viewfinity Dashboard: provides a quick view into the operations and status of the company assets through live monitoring of select desktops and servers to identify problematic areas

· Windows 7 OS Deployment with Viewfinity User Migration: a valuable add-on to the Acronis image deployment software for domain based migration of user personal settings, application settings and user data files to prepare for and perform the migration from Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7.

Viewfinity also complements traditional systems management, such as SCCM, by offering new flexibility to manage administrator rights for locked down computers.

Viewfinity Systems Management solution can be delivered from a web-hosted platform or installed on premises. All desktop management is done through a secure and encrypted HTTPS connection which provides the ideal method for managing PCs for remote and mobile workers. Its web-hosted platform is also ideal for proof-of-concept evaluations because it eliminates the need to build a complex server environment to evaluate or deploy the software.

Online registration is available for trial evaluations here: http://www.viewfinity.com/SaasStart.aspx

Tags: Viewfinity, Desktop Management, Systems Management, Patch Management, OS Deployment, Software Deployment, Privilege Management, SaaS, Windows 7 Migration

About Viewfinity

Viewfinity is the innovator of systems and privilege management via cloud-computing, allowing IT professionals to focus on managing systems and not the platform's infrastructure. With the cloud model, IT can be up and running quickly to provide management, support and control for desktops, servers and laptops. This makes it extremely cost effective and easy for IT to support local as well as mobile workers.

Viewfinity uses virtualization technology as the foundation to simplify and automate deployment and management of applications, licenses and assets. Viewfinity also complements traditional systems management by offering compliance adherence to flexibly manage privileges for locked down computers. Viewfinity's cloud approach delivers immediate and long-term value, scales with business need, and eliminates the equipment, training, and substantially higher costs of on-premise implementations. Based in Waltham, MA, information on Viewfinity systems management solutions can be found at www.viewfinity.com.

Elevating security rights to administrative levels on a per application basis

An important and challenging problem for IT Administrators to maneuver around is managing administrative privileges on the desktop. Many applications that are developed in-house as well as some commercial products, such as Visual Studio, require running the application as an administrator. If the user doesn't have administrative privileges, the application components will not function or even worse, the application will not run at all. A typical situation facing IT administrators is where an end user needs to run such an application and must either grant full local administrative rights to the user account or utilize the native Windows command "RunAS" and provide the administrator password. Allowing users to have administrative rights or exposing the administrator password is risky and creates a less secure environment, which opens the door for desktop problems to occur.

This problem is especially challenging for IT Administrators working for the government as the recent US Government Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC) mandate stipulates that administrative rights cannot be granted to end users and may not be made available on federal desktops and laptops.

Granting administrator rights at the application level and removing privileges from end users is the best approach for optimum desktop security. With this approach, the desktop operates within the least privileges mode except for applications flagged for elevated privileges.

Here's a 70 second video clip demonstrating Viewfinity Elevate Privileges. Feedback is welcome.