Microsoft delays Stirling

Microsoft has delayed the release of its forthcoming Stirling security suite

Microsoft's long-awaited integrated security suite, codenamed Stirling, has been delayed by months and will not now be available until the fourth quarter 2009, according to the firm.

Stirling was originally intended to ship in the first half of this year, and is a combination of Microsoft's Forefront Client Security, Forefront Security for Exchange Server, Forefront Security for SharePoint, the new Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server, renamed Forefront Threat Management Gateway, and a unified management console.

Microsoft's Identity and Security team said in a blog post that the Forefront Server Security for Exchange and Threat Management Gateway would be ready by the fourth quarter of 2009, but that other components, such as the Stirling management console, Forefront Client Security 2.0 and Forefront Security for SharePoint, will not be ready until the first half of 2010.

A second public beta and a release candidate will ship prior to the final release, said Microsoft. The first beta was released in March.

The firm said that the delay is due to the further development of the Dynamic Signature Service "to help deliver more comprehensive endpoint protection for zero day attacks", and efforts to add interoperability with third-party solutions, as per customer requests.

"In response, we plan to increase our focus on one of the unique features of Stirling: Security Assessment Sharing," said the blog post.

"Security Assessment Sharing correlates security events from different Forefront products and third-party solutions, enabling administrators to quickly investigate and remediate security events. We will provide information about interoperability partners in the near future."