Utimaco's SafeGuard Enterprise is a series of software-based components that comprise a modular suite. The five components are: Partner Connect, Management Centre, Device Encryption, Data Exchange and Configuration Protection. At the heart of the suite are the Device Encryption module, which offers whole disk encryption to client hosts, and the Management Centre, the module where configuration and policy options are managed and pushed down to clients.
Installation of the components is straightforward. The solution was installed on our Windows 2003 test server and required Microsoft SQL Server (Express edition is included) as well as .NET. There are lots of options and machine settings for client hosts, but any good administrator will find the setup intuitive.
From a performance perspective, the entire 75GB laptop was encrypted in two hours and 40 minutes. The various encryption components protect the whole disk, boot sectors, volumes and removable media for laptops and some mobile devices. However, booting to Windows XP from the PBA screen was noticeably slower. Despite this shortcoming, the suite offers some of the best protection mechanisms we've seen. The ability to control ports on client machines and the support for many two-factor authentication devices (eg USB and smartcards) is impressive.
Keys and certificates are easily managed through a central key ring console and the admin flexibility using LDAP is top-notch. Reporting, auditing and logging will help administrators easily meet compliance requirements. Utimaco also has integrated support for encrypted Remote Desktop sessions.
Documentation is in PDF and is comprehensive. The guides are helpful and contain the right balance of screenshots and text.
SafeGuard Enterprise includes basic 8/5 phone- and web-based support. Optional 24/7 support is available for a fee, as is dedicated consulting. Despite the small performance hit, we feel the modular suite is an impressive enterprise-class product and is fantastic value.