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Computers and software are essential assets of the businesses. But they create massive complexities, especially for the growing businesses. As an enterprise grows in size, the number of PCs, laptops and servers also grow by leaps and bounds. Managing thousands of computers and ensuring they remain available, secure and at their proper configurations according to policies and requirements, is no mean task and companies have to spend a lot of money on the management of company's personal computers. But even after spending a hefty amount, organizations may and do find themselves in a position, where they are exposed to higher costs and more risk against security threats, often with limited warning.

 

Recognizing the trend, IBM (News - Alert) has decided to provide a solution. The computer giant has recently announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire, Emeryville, Calif based, BigFix, Inc.. The acquisition is aimed at accelerating IBM's efforts to help organizations build smarter data centers. In its press release, IBM has informed that it will leverage BigFix's built-in intelligence to develop a platform that would help the enterprises more intelligently manage their thousands of globally scattered computers by automating security and compliance updates on them. Financial details of the deal however were not disclosed.

 

IBM has selected BigFix for its speed and efficiency, which helps in the automation.

While many vendors broadcast security patches and updates indiscriminately, BigFix software has built-in intelligence that can identify which devices are not in compliance with corporate IT policies and recommend security fixes and timely software updates to 500,000 machines in a matter of minutes.

 

BigFix, which has more than 700 customers in industries such as federal, retail, entertainment, healthcare, education and financial services, is committed to simplified and automated approach to managing and securing the IT infrastructure. BigFix software provides a single IT management platform that gives organizations visibility, control and automation across their computing endpoints - laptops, desktops and servers - to manage critical applications for systems lifecycle, vulnerability assessment, energy-efficient computing, and configuration and security compliance.

 

''BigFix automates some of the most time-intensive IT tasks across the most complex global networks, helping save organizations significant amounts of time, labor, and expense. BigFix's real-time visibility and control for globally distributed computing devices will complement IBM's existing smarter data center offerings and strengthen our ability to build security into the fabric of the enterprise,' Al Zollar, general manager, IBM Tivoli software remarked.

 

'Organizations require tighter control of computing devices and the entire IT infrastructure including applications, storage, servers and networks. BigFix is excited about becoming part of the IBM team to deliver greater visibility and control to the computing infrastructure, backed by world-class sales, services, support and alliances organizations,' Dave Robbins, president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board at BigFix said.