HOUSTON & SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In most datacenters, IT operations and IT security act independently of one another, with distinct priorities, challenges and oversight. By bringing these disparate groups together and eliminating communication gaps, enterprise organizations can reduce IT costs and drive greater compliance, productivity and business alignment.

BMC Software (NYSE:BMC) and McAfee (NYSE:MFE) today announced a strategic alliance which bridges enterprise IT operations and IT security to deliver proactive remediation of client security violations.

Together, the companies will offer a new, jointly developed solution integrating BMC BladeLogic Client Automation¹ with McAfee^® Policy Auditor, McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator^® and security and remediation content from McAfee Labs. Working together, the products can quickly identify, report, patch and remediate policy violations. This closed-loop process helps ensure compliance with corporate policies and federal regulatory requirements, resulting in lower business risk and higher availability due to fewer security violations.

According to Gartner, a leading independent analyst firm: “Patch management is about risk avoidance, but also about maintaining system availability. Therein lies the challenges of patching: what to patch, how fast and in consultation with whom. There are multiple stakeholders involved in the process, or at least its outcome. One message we consistently hear from clients is that, even with security teams working closely with IT operations teams, there is often a gap between what is expected and what is practical in patch deployment timing. The security team wants to reduce risk of an external attack and, while the operations team wants that too, it also has to worry about self-inflicted wounds and conflicting demands.”²

“By bringing IT operations and security together in a single, integrated solution, we are removing the element of conflict and ensuring both IT and security are aligned based on the needs of the business,” said Paul Avenant, BMC’s vice president of products, Enterprise Service Management. “In addition to increasing compliance and speed to remediation, the integration can also drive down IT costs by reducing the amount of resources required to maintain systems integrity.”

BMC BladeLogic Client Automation effectively configures and automates the rollout of software, patches, power settings and security policies available through McAfee Policy Auditor’s robust security policy remediation library. By streamlining and automating client configuration management, remediation and patches can be rolled out much faster than with previous “disconnected” processes.

“This alliance represents a significant step forward in providing customers with a complete solution for continuous compliance,” said George Kurtz, senior vice president and general manager of McAfee’s risk and compliance business unit. “Our joint customers – especially those required to meet stringent compliance guidelines such as SCAP, FDCC and HIPAA – can feel confident that this integration will enable faster, more consistent remediation, achieve operational efficiencies and reduce risk.”

The joint solution will be available in Q4 2009 through either McAfee or BMC. BMC will demonstrate the integration at McAfee’s annual security conference, FOCUS 09 which will take place October 6-9 at the Palazzo Resort-Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas.

Related information:

• Business Service Management
• BMC BladeLogic Client Automation
• McAfee Policy Auditor

Business runs on IT. IT runs on BMC Software.

The most demanding IT organizations in the world rely on BMC Software across both distributed and mainframe environments. Recognized as the leader in Business Service Management, BMC’s comprehensive approach and unified platform help IT organizations cut cost, reduce risk and drive business profit. For the four fiscal quarters ended June 30, 2009, BMC revenue was approximately $1.88 billion. Visit BMC.com for more information.

About McAfee

McAfee, Inc., headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is the world's largest dedicated security technology company. McAfee is committed to relentlessly tackling the world's toughest security challenges. The company delivers proactive and proven solutions and services that help secure systems and networks around the world, allowing users to safely connect to the Internet, browse and shop the web more securely. Backed by an award-winning research team, McAfee creates innovative products that empower home users, businesses, the public sector and service providers by enabling them to prove compliance with regulations, protect data, prevent disruptions, identify vulnerabilities, and continuously monitor and improve their security. http://www.mcafee.com.

Forward-Looking Statements:

The information contained in this document is for informational purposes only and should not be deemed an offer by McAfee or create an obligation on McAfee. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed to be “forward-looking statements” under the federal securities laws, including but not limited to, statements relating to the security software industry and McAfee’s strategies, competitive market position, and products and technologies including the release date of new products and technologies and statements. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions which may cause our results, performance and achievements to differ materially from those expressed, including that McAfee may experience delays in product development or the release of previously announced products. McAfee reserves the right to discontinue products at any time, add or subtract features or functionality, or modify its products, at its sole discretion, without notice and without incurring further obligations. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are also subject to the risks and uncertainties more fully described in McAfee’s filings with the SEC. McAfee does not undertake to update any forward looking statements.

BMC, BMC Software, and the BMC Software logo are the exclusive properties of BMC Software Inc., are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and may be registered or pending registration in other countries. All other BMC trademarks, service marks, and logos may be registered or pending registration in the U.S. or in other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © Copyright 2009 BMC Software, Inc.

¹ Formerly BMC Configuration Automation for Clients

² Gartner, “Getting Back to Basics on Patch Management”, Ronni Colville, August 2009