User:Teresa Worth

HCL BigFix
BigFix is a collaborative endpoint management and security software solution for IT Infrastructure and Security professionals. BigFix provides the accurate, near real-time endpoint data that organizations need to discover, manage, and secure their endpoints while minimizing the cost, time and effort to do so. (Endpoints include servers, laptops, desktops and specialized equipment such as point-of-sale (POS) devices, ATMs, and self-service kiosks as well as virtual machines.) With BigFix, IT operations and security teams can use a single tool to re-image remote devices, distribute and patch software, discover and track software application usage, and monitor and enforce security compliance polices across many types of devices using multiple versions of Windows, Mac and *nix operating systems and applications – regardless of bandwidth and connectivity.

Background
The endpoint landscape changes constantly and IT infrastructure and security specialists struggle to discover real-time information on operating systems, software versions, application usage and compliance drift on every PC, laptop, server, ATM, or POS etc. across the enterprise. There isn’t enough time or budget to continuously and effectively deploy software, apply patches, discover new assets, assess endpoint usage or monitor and enforce compliance on multiple versions of Windows, Mac and variants of Unix operating systems, hundreds of applications, and thousands of endpoint devices (including those in remote locations with low bandwidth or occasional access to corporate networks). This increases the likelihood of a successful endpoint attack. If you can’t see it, you can’t fix it.

BigFix lets you Discover, Manage and Secure Endpoints – FAST! Unlike other tools that only provide slow, partial views of dated endpoint information on limited numbers of operating systems, applications and devices, BigFix provides the accurate, real-time endpoint data that organizations need to discover, manage, and secure their endpoints. With BigFix, IT operations and security teams can use a single tool to re-image remote devices, distribute and patch software, discover and inventory new assets, assess application usage, and monitor and enforce compliance polices across many types of devices using multiple versions of Windows, Mac and variants of Unix operating systems and applications – regardless of bandwidth and connectivity. Plus, because BigFix has designed all endpoint management functions to operate from the same console, management server and single intelligent agent, adding more services is a simple matter of a license key change. BigFix reduces your endpoint attack surface while minimizing the cost, time and effort required to discover, manage and secure endpoints across the extended enterprise.

HCL BigFix Portfolio
The BigFix portfolio includes:


 * HCL BigFix Compliance—This easy-to-manage, quick-to-deploy solution provides unified, real-time visibility and enforcement to help organizations both protect endpoint assets and assure regulators that systems are meeting security compliance standards.
 * HCL BigFix Inventory—This software enables users to discover and analyze applications installed on desktops, laptops and servers. Drill-down information about software.
 * HCL BigFix Lifecycle—This easy-to-manage, quick-to-deploy solution provides unified, real-time visibility and management of endpoints including asset discovery, patch management, software distribution, operating system deployment, and remote desktop control.
 * HCL BigFix Patch—This powerful software balances the need for fast deployment and high availability with an automated, simplified patching process that is administered from a single console. BigFix Patch gives organizations access to comprehensive capabilities for delivering patches for Microsoft Windows, UNIX, Linux and Apple Macintosh operating systems; third-party applications from vendors including Adobe, Mozilla, Apple and Java; and customer-supplied patches to endpoints—regardless of their location, connection type or status.

HCL BigFix Platform
The core for all current and future capabilities is the BigFix Platform which distributes decision making to the endpoints. Some of the features include:


 * One, intelligent agent—BigFix utilizes an industry-leading approach that places an intelligent agent on each endpoint. This single agent performs multiple functions including continuous self-assessment and policy enforcement—yet has minimal impact on system performance. In contrast to traditional client-server architectures that wait for instructions from a central control point, this agent initiates actions in an intelligent manner, sending messages upstream to the central management server and pulling patches, configurations or other information to the endpoint when necessary to comply with a relevant policy. As a result of the agent’s intelligence and speed, the central management server always knows the compliance and change status of endpoints, enabling rapid and up-to-date compliance reporting.
 * Reporting—BigFix orchestrates a high level of visibility that includes real-time continuous reporting and analysis from the intelligent agents on an organization’s endpoints.
 * Relay capabilities— The scalable and lightweight architecture of the BigFix platform provides the flexibility to designate existing systems as BigFix relays to become the conduit between BigFix agents and the BigFix server. Relays reduce WAN traffic as they are responsible for uploading and downloading any necessary content for the BigFix agents. Additionally, where it is appropriate, BigFix agents can be enabled to operate in PeerNest mode in which one agent is dynamically chosen to download any necessary content and sharing it with peers, reducing WAN traffic and the number of relays in remote locations.
 * Fixlet® messages—The Fixlet Relevance Language is a published command language that enables customers, business partners and developers to create custom policies and services for endpoints managed by BigFix solutions.

Markets include: banking, financial services, manufacturing, government, education, and healthcare.

History
BigFix Inc., began an American company, headquartered in Emeryville, California, focused on managing networked desktop, mobile, and server computers. From its origins as a personal computer self-help application, the company’s products expanded to on-demand endpoint management services that included asset inventory/discovery, software distribution, information technology compliance reporting, patch management, software license management, security policy enforcement, and endpoint device power consumption management.

On July 20, 2010, IBM acquired BigFix, Inc. for approximately $400 million, and integrated the BigFix product into its Tivoli Software portfolio under the new name IBM Tivoli Endpoint Manager(TEM). On March 5, 2013, IBM Tivoli Endpoint Manager was renamed by IBM once again and became IBM Endpoint Manager (IEM).

On July 7, 2015, IBM changed the name of IBM Endpoint Manager back to IBM BigFix.

On December 7, 2018, HCL Technologies announced the acquisition of IBM BigFix and the acquisition closed on July 1, 2019. HCL Software is a division of HCL Technologies that develops and delivers a next-generation portfolio of enterprise-grade software-based offerings with flexible consumption models, spanning traditional on-premises software, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and bundled managed services. HCL Software areas include DevOps, Security, Automation, Application Modernization, Data and Integration Infrastructure, and several Business Applications. HCL embraces the real-world complexity of multi-mode IT that ranges from mainframe to cloud and everything in between while focusing on customer success and building ‘Relationships Beyond the Contract.

Contact
For more information about BigFix, contact an HCL Software representative, HCL Business Partner, or visit www.bigfix.com.