BigFix Discovery (formerly known as BigFix Enterprise Suite) is the vendor's core platform upon which is built multiple separate product functionalities targeted to the management of workstations and servers in the corporate network. Among the capabilities offered by the BigFix platform are patch management, endpoint compliance, and anti-virus management, to name a few.

BigFix Discovery is an agent-based system, in which agents are deployed to all servers, workstations, or laptops connected to (or that will connect to) the corporate network. These agents communicate either directly with the BigFix Discovery Server or with separate Relays, which aggregate and compress communication between the Agents and the Server, and cache and distribute downloads to the Agents. The Server is deployed in the main data center, while the Relays can be deployed both in the data center (as a top level aggregator) and/or in the remote branches (the vendor recommends that at least one Relay be installed per geographic location, and one Relay per 500 - 1000 agents).

The onsite BigFix Discovery Servers communicate, via the Internet, with the vendor's own secure servers and retrieve from them "Fixlets" for distribution to the agents within the corporation. Fixlets are continuously developed and deployed by the vendor and their partners, and contain small messages with the necessary information for the agents to detect a specific vulnerability or issue on the endpoint computer, and automated instructions for remediation. These Fixlets are then distributed to the endpoint agents, which examine them, compare the information they contain with the actual status of the endpoint machine itself, and report back to the Server if they (the endpoint machines) are affected by the described issue. The administrator can then elect to launch automated remediations for all or a subset of the endpoint machines affected by the issue per their discretion, with the agent in turn reporting back to the server the success or failure of the actions. Actions can be invoked immediately, or can be set to be enacted repetitively--now, and anytime the same issue is detected in the future. Disconnected endpoints such as laptops will execute the action when they next connect.

Management of the overall platform is via the BigFix Console, Windows-based software that administrators can use to connect and communicate with the BigFix Server.

On top of this base platform, the vendor offers multiple, separate functionalities called Policy Content Modules. Included within these are Asset Discovery (endpoint identification and scanning), AntiVirus, Data Leak Prevention, Patch Management, Power Management, and Vulnerability Management, among others. These individual Content Modules are additionally bundled into separate and targeted "Solution Packs," currently including the IT Policy Enforcement, Desktop Server Management, and AntiThreat bundles.

New to the platform is support for Mac OS X in the Power Management Policy Content Module.

BigFix Discovery is available now. Visit the BigFix Web site for further information.