matrix42 Adds Security to Client Management Offerings

Matrix42, a German company that's been around for 15 years, recently decided it wanted to push more aggressively into the U.S. market with its flagship PC-lifecycle-management product Empirum PRO, so it opened an office in Atlanta last year and hired Chris Tamblyn as CEO of U.S. operations last month. The company also released a new product: Empirum Security Suite.

Tamblyn described Empirum Security Suite as an extension of matrix42's existing product line that appeals especially to U.S. companies, which he said are a little ahead of European companies in terms of security consciousness.

Empirum Security Suite is built on StormShield technology licensed from SkyRecon Systems. Matrix42 added a UI that's consistent with Empirum PRO's, but the security product isn't yet integrated into the central console that administrators use to manage PRO's components. Security Suite has an agent that sits on the managed computer between the kernel and the OS. Through it, Security Suite determines who the user is and by what means the computer is attempting to connect to the network. Based on this information, Security Suite policies determine which programs and devices the user can access.

Next up, according to Tamblyn: encryption of data at rest (coming by year end).