QuikNews August 2002 E-Mail Newsletter




Quality Technology Solutions, Inc. QTS QuikNews – August 2002 – Issue 2002.8 August 26, 2002 ************************************************************************ Welcome to the August edition of QTS QuikNews, our Monthly E-Mail newsletter. In this monthly e-mail, you will receive an update of what's new at QTS - new products we support, new patches and upgrades, solution ideas and promotions to save you money, and information about our company and our clients. As a QTS client, a prospective client we have had discussions with, or a “friend of QTS,” you have been automatically added to our newsletter distribution list. To unsubscribe from this mailing please see the instructions at the bottom of this page, or call your QTS Account Manager. Please do not respond to this e-mail. This is an unmonitored account. ********************************************************************** IN THIS ISSUE ********************************************************************** 1. QTS News 2. Events 3. Patches & Upgrades 4. President’s Corner 5. Partner Spotlight: Tiger Testing 6. Special Offers & Featured Solutions ********************************************************************** QTS NEWS ********************************************************************** NOVELL PRODUCT SUPPORT LIFECYCLE Manufacturer support for software offerings typically runs a 3 year lifecycle from initial product release these days – sometimes sooner, sometimes later, depending on the frequency of interim updates. The following Novell products have passed their end-of-life date: 8/1/02 – Novell BorderManager 3.5 8/1/02 – Novell GroupWise 5.5 See http://support.novell.com/lifecycle/forecast.html for more information. Note that support for NetWare 4.11 was discontinued effective 12/31/01, and NetWare 5.0 was discontinued effective 3/31/02. +++ FROM THE WEB +++ QTS NAMED “MEDIUM ENTERPRISE PARTNER OF THE YEAR” BY MICROSOFT NEW JERSEY DISTRICT 8/26/2002: QTS today announced that it has been named by Microsoft’s New Jersey District as Medium Enterprise Partner of the Year for the 2001-2002 fiscal year, based on the close level of teamwork between QTS and Microsoft and on QTS’ quality of service delivery to businesses with between 50-500 employees. Read more at http://www.QTSnet.com/stayinformed/l3_stay_pr30.htm QTS ANNOUNCES QUIKDESIGN ACTIVE DIRECTORY DESIGN SERVICE 8/26/2002: QTS today announced its new QuikDesign Active Directory Design Service, providing customers with a jump-start into planning for implementing Windows 2000 and Active Directory Services, as well as Exchange 2000 and related products. Read more at http://www.QTSnet.com/stayinformed/l3_stay_pr31.htm ********************************************************************** EVENTS ********************************************************************** No events are presently scheduled, but check the next issue for our upcoming Security seminars. ********************************************************************** PATCHES & UPGRADES ************************************************************************ Call the Customer Support Center to have us apply QTS-standard patches and keep your systems current. The following patches have been recently released and are generally recommended by QTS: * Novell Client 4.83 SP1 for Windows NT/2000/XP and Client 3.32 SP1 for Windows 95/98 * Novell NetWare 6.0 Support Pack 2 and NetWare 5.1 Support Pack 5 * Novell GroupWise 6 Support Pack 2 * Microsoft Office XP Service Pack 2 * Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 Service Pack 3 for Windows 2000 * Network Associates 4160 Engine Hotfix 1 for Windows 95/98/ME (http://www.nai.com/naicommon/download/enginehotfix.asp) Also, please check http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/current.asp for applicability of Microsoft Security Bulletins to the products in use at your environment. Contact your QTS Account Manager if you would like our Customer Support Center to monitor these bulletins for you and advise with recommendations for your environment upon release of new bulletins. Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition signature files are currently at version 40823d (8/23/2002). CA InoculateIT 4.x signature files are currently at version 39.18 (8/22/2002) and 6.x signature files are currently at version 23.57.18 (8/22/2002). McAfee VirusScan/NetShield signature files are currently at version 4219 (8/21/2002). Please keep your antivirus signatures, and your scan engines, current! If you do not have your system set up to automatically distribute updates from your server to your PCs, please call your QTS Account Manager or the Customer Support Center. Some patches can cause problems, especially in combination with other software programs or patch levels. We have not necessarily tested all patches in all possible combinations to be able to know their impact on your environment. Please talk to us to verify whether we see any possible problems in your environment before patching your systems independently. We make best efforts to test patches and patch combinations but cannot guarantee compatibility between software and hardware manufacturers’ products. ************************************************************************ PRESIDENT’S CORNER ********************************************************************** As you may have noted in the press releases above, we have developed a new offering called QuikDesign Active Directory Design Services. One of the main reasons we developed this is some of our customers had purchased the upgrade to Windows 2000 and other products, as a result of the July 31st licensing changes on the part of Microsoft, but were not quite sure how to proceed in upgrading their networks. We had spent time working with Microsoft Consulting Services to take in best practices for implementing Active Directory, tailor the material to the Medium Enterprise space, and add in QTS’ content and our own best practices. So, under the circumstances it seemed appropriate to “productize” this service offering. Windows 2000 is in many ways similar to Windows NT, yet in other ways is markedly different. The capabilities built specifically into Active Directory provide considerable scalability and functionality compared to Windows NT. The ability to build the domain hierarchically, and to associate objects, in and of itself is a significant change. So simply upgrading your Windows NT Domain to Windows 2000 will work, but does not position you to take advantage of the new features and capabilities of the operating system. Add to this the powerful new management features of Group Policy support, and there are many compelling reasons to upgrade. QuikDesign is positioned to help your IT team rapidly acquire the knowledge to create and support an effective Active Directory design for your organization, leveraging QTS’ skill and expertise as well as Microsoft’s best practices. Under this approach, we combine formal and informal training with analysis of your environment, and then generate a report (in effect, a blueprint) for how your organization’s Active Directory design should look. This accomplishes a level of knowledge transfer to your IT staff, while leveraging QTS’ knowledge. Some organizations will want to proceed with implementing Active Directory on their own, and if they have the skill set and resources in-house then this is a viable approach. Most organizations will want to continue the partnership with QTS at least handling the “heavy lift” components of the project, while continuing to transfer knowledge. From a business perspective, we believe this is a strong solution to help organizations that just made the investment in Microsoft software to implement the technology, in a time and cost-effective manner. Having made the licensing purchase, most businesses we have spoken to are anxious to begin implementing it. We believe this service offering can help generate a faster ROI and accelerate the business benefits the software was purchased for in the first place. As always, feel free to email me your comments or thoughts at nrosenberg@QTSnet.com. Thank you. Neil Rosenberg President & CEO Quality Technology Solutions ********************************************************************** PARTNER SPOTLIGHT: TIGER TESTING ********************************************************************** Tiger Testing specializes exclusively in penetration testing (also known as ethical hacking). Penetration Testing is critical for safeguarding systems and data, protecting privacy, and meeting regulatory requirements. Tiger Testing's penetration testing service is offered as an independent component of QTS' QuikSecure system security offerings. Under Tiger Testing’s approach, many testing and analysis cycles take place over the course of each month-long testing period. Over twenty testing tools, plus manual tests, are used to identify, analyze, and confirm system security gaps. Clients' systems are not written to or modified, and clients' network speed is not reduced. Tiger Testing's reports are concise and clear to both senior management and hands-on technicians. The reports and follow-up discussions with Tiger Testing experts include: business and technical risk analysis, technical details about the security gaps, applicable CVE references, and recommended remediation steps. Tiger Testing's clients include multinational financial and technology firms, small to medium sized businesses, as well as state and federal government agencies. Tiger Testing participates on the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) Board of Editors, as a founding member of the Partnership for Critical Infrastructure Security (PCIS), as a charter member of the Center for Internet Security (CIS), and as active members of the Computer Security Institute (CSI), and the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA). Tiger Testing Managing Directors have provided expert testimony on penetration testing to the U.S. Congress and Federal Agencies, and written best practice standards for the legal and system security communities. QTS and Tiger Testing work together to secure our clients' critical business systems and data. QTS' Microsoft certified security experts develop system security policies and procedures geared to the needs of medium sized firms, implement and upgrade security solutions, and perform internal and preliminary external security assessments. Tiger Testing reinforces QTS' efforts by performing on-going expert external penetration testing - alerting QTS clients to system security gaps that open up as a result of system changes or advances in hacker technology. For more information on Tiger Testing, please view their web site at www.TigerTesting.com, email sales@tigertesting.com, or call 212-898-9385. Or, contact your QTS Account Manager. ********************************************************************** SPECIAL OFFERS & FEATURED SOLUTIONS ********************************************************************** SYMANTEC CLIENT SECURITY COMPETITIVE UPGRADE PROMOTION Symantec Client Security is a new offering to protect desktop PCs from viruses (using Norton Antivirus technology) as well as to provide personal firewall and intrusion detection capabilities. Through December 31^st, customers with competitive antivirus or personal firewall software can purchase Symantec Client Security at promotional pricing. Contact your QTS Account Manager for more details. ********************************************************************** To Comment on this newsletter, send an email to QuikNews@QTSnet.com. ********************************************************************** To Remove yourself from this mailing list please send a reply to this message with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject field. Or call or email your QTS Account Manager. ********************************************************************** To Subscribe to this Newsletter, tell your friends and colleagues to go to http://www.QTSnet.com/QuikNews. ********************************************************************** To View an archive of all QTS QuikNews editions, please visit http://www.QTSnet.com/stayinformed/QuikNews/QuikNews_Index.htm. ************************************************************************ ^{ã2002 Quality Technology Solutions, Inc.} This site last updated 08/26/02 © 1999 Quality Technology Solutions, Inc. 76 South Orange Avenue Suite 302, South Orange, New Jersey 07079 telephone: 973.761.5400 fax: 973.761.1881 email: info@qtsnet.com