Premiere Global Sports Deploys Symantec Solutions to Secure and Back Up Virtual Systems

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Premiere Global Sports Deploys Symantec Solutions to Secure and Back Up Virtual Systems

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – March 27, 2012 – Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced that Premiere Global Sports, a provider of specialized sports travel and hospitality products is using Symantec Protection Suite Enterprise Edition and Symantec Backup Exec to centralize protection of the company’s distributed endpoints. While Premiere Global Sports is a small business, the data they produce is growing on an enterprise scale and thus needs the protection of an enterprise-class solution. Since the deployment, Premiere Global Sports can protect, back up, and provide disaster recovery capabilities for its virtualized business systems.

Premiere Global Sports has grown by acquisition over the last decade, and as a result, most of its 75 full-time employees are distributed across the United States. Consequently, all of its endpoints were managed individually with a variety of antivirus products.

“Many of the companies we acquired were flying by the seat of their pants and didn’t have time to focus on IT infrastructure,” said Jason Drake, Premiere Global Sports’ director of infrastructure and security. “We were tasked with choosing expandable platforms that can meet more needs than we have right now.”

Centralizing Endpoint Protection

Based on past positive experiences, Drake selected Symantec Protection Suite Enterprise Edition to centralize protection of its distributed endpoints and to protect multiple independent servers and dozens of Windows endpoints. In addition to endpoint security, the Symantec Protection Suite Enterprise Edition license includes email server security, email and web gateway virtual appliances, and desktop system recovery. The Enterprise Edition will accommodate Premiere Global Sports’ future growth.

“Having Symantec Protection Suite in place—especially with its defense against zero-day threats—definitely makes me feel more at ease,” Drake said. “By leveraging the new security management solution, we can pinpoint security threats and increase the productivity of our security operations.”

Reliable Backup and Recovery for a Virtualized IT Environment

To support Premiere Global Sports’ growing business, Drake and his team chose Symantec Backup Exec to reduce downtime and ensure critical information on both their virtual and physical systems is always protected and restored in seconds.

“Our IT environment is 90 – 95 percent virtualized, and we continue to leverage this technology to reduce costs and the number of physical servers,” said Drake. “We have trusted Backup Exec to backup our data for several years and the transition from a physical server infrastructure to virtual infrastructure didn’t change our choice in a data protection solution.”

Backup Exec simplifies both backup and disaster recovery, allowing Drake to focus on strategic programs. Plus, Premiere Global Sports will soon begin beta testing Backup Exec 2012 as its deduplication features will streamline backup operations even further.

“Based on my testing, Backup Exec gives me the ability to recover both physical and virtual systems in case of a catastrophe,” Drake said. “Symantec’s V-Ray technology embedded in Backup Exec also allows us to easily expand to a virtual environment and feel confident in our decision.”

About Symantec

Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help consumers and organizations secure and manage their information-driven world. Our software and services protect against more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently, enabling confidence wherever information is used or stored. More information is available at www.symantec.com.

News Release from the FBI - Disaster Relief Fraud

Justice Department and FBI Raise Awareness of Disaster Fraud Hotline 

U.S. Department of JusticeMarch 08, 2012

Office of Public Affairs(202) 514-2007/TDD (202)514-1888

WASHINGTON—The Department of Justice, the FBI, and the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) remind the public there is a potential for disaster fraud in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Suspected fraudulent activity pertaining to relief efforts associated with the recent series of tornadoes in the Midwest and South should be reported to the NCDF hotline at 866-720-5721. The hotline is staffed by a live operator 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the purpose of reporting suspected scams being perpetrated by criminals in the aftermath of disasters.

NCDF was originally established in 2005 by the Department of Justice to investigate, prosecute, and deter fraud associated with federal disaster relief programs following Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. Its mission has expanded to include suspected fraud related to any natural or man-made disaster. More than 20 federal agencies, including the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, and the FBI, participate in the NCDF, allowing the center to act as a centralized clearinghouse of information related to disaster relief fraud.

In the wake of natural disasters, many individuals feel compelled to contribute to victim assistance programs and organizations across the country. The Department of Justice and the FBI remind the public to apply a critical eye and do its due diligence before giving to anyone soliciting donations on behalf of tornado victims. Solicitations can originate from e-mails, websites, door-to-door collections, mailings and telephone calls, and similar methods.

Before making a donation of any kind, consumers should adhere to certain guidelines, including the following:

• Do not respond to any unsolicited (spam) incoming e-mails, including clicking links contained within those messages, because they may contain computer viruses.
• Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as surviving victims or officials asking for donations via e-mail or social networking sites.
• Beware of organizations with copycat names similar to but not exactly the same as those of reputable charities.
• Rather than following a purported link to a website, verify the existence and legitimacy of non-profit organizations by utilizing various Internet-based resources.
• Be cautious of e-mails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files, because the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders.
• To ensure that contributions are received and used for intended purposes, make donations directly to known organizations rather than relying on others to make the donation on your behalf.
• Do not be pressured into making contributions; reputable charities do not use coercive tactics.
• Do not give your personal or financial information to anyone who solicits contributions. Providing such information may compromise your identity and make you vulnerable to identity theft.
• Avoid cash donations if possible. Pay by debit or credit card, or write a check directly to the charity. Do not make checks payable to individuals.
• Legitimate charities do not normally solicit donations via money transfer services.
• Most legitimate charities maintain websites ending in .org rather than .com.

In addition to raising public awareness, the NCDF is the intake center for all disaster relief fraud. Therefore, if you observe that someone has submitted a fraudulent claim for disaster relief, or any other suspected fraudulent activities pertaining to the receipt of government funds as part of disaster relief or clean up, please contact the NCDF.

If you believe that you have been a victim of fraud by a person or organization soliciting relief funds on behalf of tornado victims, or if you discover fraudulent disaster relief claims submitted by a person or organization, contact the NCDF by phone at (866) 720-5721, fax at (225) 334-4707, or e-mail at disaster@leo.gov.

You can also report suspicious e-mail solicitations or fraudulent websites to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.

News Release from CA Technologies - Hybrid Data Protection to SMBs

New CA ARCserve D2D On Demand Delivers Fast, Cost-Effective Hybrid Data Protection to SMBs

Flexible SaaS Solution Combines Local Backup Speed With Windows Azure Cloud Storage

ISLANDIA, NY, February 23, 2012 – CA Technologies (NASDAQ: CA) today announced CA ARCserve® D2D On Demand, a hybrid software-as-a-service (SaaS) data protection and disaster recovery solution that enables small businesses to meet demanding backup windows while protecting the integrity and availability of critical systems, applications and information.

Unlike solutions that only provide local protection or only back up directly to the cloud, CA ARCserve D2D On Demand combines on-premise resources for fast backup and bare-metal recovery capabilities with Windows Azure™ cloud storage for secure offsite protection and archiving of critical files.  This hybrid approach enables SMBs to successfully protect their relentlessly growing volume of data within limited budget constraints.

"Now that SMBs are experiencing the same intensive proliferation of high-value data as their enterprise counterparts, they are in desperate need of a backup solution that is fast, scalable, easy to implement, richly functional and priced right," said Steve Fairbanks, vice president, Data Management, CA Technologies.  "CA ARCserve D2D On Demand uniquely delivers on these key criteria by leveraging the inherent strengths of both on-premise and cloud models—enabling SMB customers to quickly and easily achieve their data protection objectives."

Utilizing patent-pending Infinite Incremental (I2) Technology™, CA ARCserve D2D On Demand enables companies to conduct frequent backups with minimal impact on storage resources, processing power and network bandwidth.  Users can quickly restore files, application data, volumes or entire systems—even to dissimilar hardware or virtual environments—from a single snapshot backup. 

Through a central web portal users and partners can easily obtain information on when the last backup occurred, total number of machines licensed, amount of time and storage remaining on the contract, and many other helpful resources for managing the subscription account.

Offsite data storage is particularly important for protecting organizations against local disasters, such as fires or floods.

“Windows Azure offers a compelling value proposition in terms of cost, elasticity, security and reliability,” said Walid Abu-Hadba, corporate vice president, Developer & Platform Evangelism Group, Microsoft.  “CA ARCserve D2D On Demand offers a great way of using the power of Windows Azure to make disk-to-disk backup much easier and less expensive.”

CA ARCserve D2D On Demand is sold exclusively through the channel as a comprehensive, turnkey managed service—allowing customers to treat backup as a fixed operational cost, rather than requiring both high capital expenditure and indeterminate ongoing ownership costs.  The seamless inclusion of Windows Azure cloud storage also spares customers and partners the burden of engineering their own integration with cloud infrastructure or contracting separately with a cloud storage-as-a-service provider.

“It is essential for us to rigorously protect our IT environment—but the cost and hassle of backing up to tape, storing tapes offsite, and properly cataloging them for possible emergency restoration is impractical,” said Tyler Rast, general manager and vice president of operation at Beehive Brick & Stone, a large masonry products provider in Utah.  “With CA ARCserve D2D On Demand, we now get fast, reliable off-site protection of our critical data on a straightforward subscription basis that keeps our costs low and predictable.”

CA ARCserve D2D On Demand is offered through monthly or annual subscription licensing that includes 25GB of Windows Azure cloud storage per protected machine.  Additional cloud storage is available in tiered capacity bands.  Customers can pool their purchased cloud storage resources and share them among protected machines. 

CA ARCserve D2D On Demand is also an ideal solution for MSPs seeking to include turnkey data protection offerings in their cloud services portfolios.

“In addition to its technical excellence, CA ARCserve D2D On Demand is designed to flawlessly handle usage reporting and billing for MSPs re-selling cloud backup,” said Vinny DiSpigno, CEO of Webistix, Inc., a New York-based MSP.  “We expect this to be a great way for us to generate recurring revenue stream with minimal upfront investment.”

Resources:

• CA ARCserve D2D On Demand product page• Product Brief: Five Things You Should Know• Whitepaper: The Hybrid Cloud Approach: CA ARCserve D2D On Demand• ARCserve.com