The BigFix offerings are all driven from the Unified Management Platform or BigFix Enterprise Server (BES). This core technology allows for many different services to be applied to an organization.
The BigFix product is very robust and, in the area of endpoint security, it is one of the few products which crosses the boundaries of types of endpoint control.
The BigFix tool provides everything from anti-spyware to anti-virus to enforcement of encryption on all removable media. These features, as well as all of the others, are controlled through a single console, making it very convenient for administrators to define the security posture of their organization.
Another unique feature of the product is the tiered structure of BES, which allows for installation with a minimum of additional hardware required. In small deployments, it is possible that additional hardware may not even be necessary.
The server that downloads the fixlets from the service at BigFix needs to be a Windows 2000 or a Windows 2003 server. The server is the only part of the installation that touches the internet.
For scalability purposes, BES also can use existing devices as relays. Not only do these relays help reduce overhead on the BES server, but they also reduce network traffic. In a large environment, a relay can be deployed at each geographical location to save bandwidth. The server only downloads the fixlet messages, the console is where the policy is created.
The BES Client software (also known as the BES Agent) can be installed on almost any release of Windows, including 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, Server 2003 and XP. The BES Client can also run on Red Hat Linux, SUSE Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, Macintosh OS X and AIX.
BigFix includes 24/7/365 support to all users with no additional charge. There are extended options as well. The premium option gives priority and faster access to engineers than does standard support.
The pricing is based on per seat licensing. The per seat fees are $15 per user and $15 for each server. This puts the BigFix product at the low end of the price range.
