Final Analysis
Trend Micro's system and application management features are less well developed
than the other products I review here. Although Control Manager offers the largest
enterprises a flexible view of the many Trend Micro products and servers that
might be in use, each product server must still be administered individually,
using the console interface designed for the product. In this review, I found
the integration of the Control Manager console with the OfficeScan console left
a lot of room for improvement. The simple ability to open an OfficeScan console
for a server in its own browser window from Control Manager would be a significant
improvement. Within the OfficeScan console, the single-level computer group
structure limits an administrator's ability to organize the policy structure,
and the need to export and import a group policy to effect named policy administration
is somewhat cumbersome. I'm hoping that the upcoming new version of OfficeScan
will improve the centralized management features.
Trend Micro
OfficeScan 7.3 with Control Manager 3.5 PROS: Server-based
communication architecture capable of serving large organizations, broad
support for platforms and languages CONS: Policy management
procedures occur to me as less sophisticated compared to competing products;
integration of the Control Manager console for management of OfficeScan
functions has much potential for improvement RATING: 3 out of
5 PRICE: For Trend Micro OfficeScan with Control Manager 3.5
(which is included for free); $18.90 per user for 1,000 users RECOMMENDATION:
From an administrative perspective, this product is difficult to work
with. CONTACT: Trend Micro http://www.trendmicro.com
877-268-4847
Editor's Choice
All of these products have great capabilities. If I had the opportunity to fully
compare all the features of these products, I might reach a different conclusion.
But for central policy-based management, I am most impressed with McAfee’s
ePolicy Orchestrator for its ability to achieve relative ease of use and broad
functionality. For that, I award ePO Editor's Choice.
John Green (john@nereus.cc) is president of Nereus Computer Consulting.
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