Today in Berlin at TechEd Europe Microsoft vice president Brad Anderson announced that the Release Candidate of Forefront Endpoint Protection (FEP) 2010 is now available for download and we are on track to release to manufacturing by the end of 2010! Built on System Center Configuration Manager R2 and R3, FEP gives customers the ability to manage and secure their systems on the exact same infrastructure –  converging the disciplines of client security and management. 

With FEP, desktop antimalware is no longer a discrete set of tools and processes – it is an extension of your existing Configuration Manager deployment, making your endpoint protection:

1. Easier to use.  You view your configuration information (what has/hasn’t been updated, what patches have/haven’t been applied) in the same place as your security information – which makes it easier to identify issues and make smarter decisions to resolve them.
2. Less costly. No more maintaining two sets of hardware, implementing two sets of policies, or training staff on two separate technologies.
3. Extremely effective.  The new detection engine in FEP– with its behavioral detection technologies – has been proven in third-party testing (AV-comparatives, VirusBulletin) to rank among the industry’s best – particularly when detection unknown threats.

In addition to our infrastructure and detection updates, FEP includes some great new features like:

• Windows Firewall management.  Now easier to ensure Windows Firewall is active and working properly on all endpoints across the enterprise.
• Automated agent replacement.  For the most common antimalware solutions, automatically detects and removes existing security agents to streamline deployment.

We encourage you to take a look at the new RC – and if you happen to be at TechEd EMEA, make sure to stop by our booth!