Which came first, the security client or the management server?

Microsoft dodged that age-old question on Wednesday when the software giant announced its two latest security products: Forefront Client Security for protection against malicious software and System Center server for managing the clients. The company pushed both products during an integrated launch: Forefront as a way to protect business desktops and laptops from malicious software and other threats, and System Center as a way for companies to manage their information-technology environment.

"One of the trends that we’re talking about today is the convergence of security and management, which is driven by a customer need to better manage the complexities of modern-day business and to protect systems against a fast-evolving threat landscape," Bob Kelly, general manager of infrastructure server marketing at Microsoft, stated in a Q&A posted to Microsoft's site. "IT professionals must manage and secure their infrastructure amid an increasingly global and mobile work force and business environment, increased compliance and privacy concerns, and an increasing range of threats."

While Microsoft had introduced other products into the information-security market, the company made its biggest splash with its Windows OneCare security service for consumers. However, the service has suffered a few black eyes, including one in March when the Virus Bulletin and AV-Comparatives testing services gave OneCare lower-than-average scores. Security company Symantec, a competitor to Microsoft in the security market, is the owner of SecurityFocus.

Forefront Client Security will be sold on a per-user per-device basis, starting at $12.72 per user or device.