At the Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2006, Quest Software, Inc. (Nasdaq: QSFT) today unveiled its product roadmap to help IT track, understand and control Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies. Quest has years of experience providing innovative products to help thousands of customers migrate to and manage Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange Server, SQL Server, and Windows Server environments. Capabilities to be rolled out later this year demonstrate Quest’s commitment to adding value to the Microsoft platform in yet another area.

Today, organizations are using SharePoint to exchange business-critical information because it is an easy form of collaboration to implement and use. However, because there are typically limited controls in place within collaboration environments, this freedom of information sharing can lead to network and security problems.

Until now, IT has not had a cost-effective and efficient way to understand and control the SharePoint infrastructure in their organizations. Quest is uniquely equipped to add value in this new area because of its longstanding relationship with Microsoft and strong track record in Windows infrastructure management. Quest will apply systems management best practices and lessons learned to help organizations get the greatest possible benefit from Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies.

“This is a natural progression in our strategy to enhance and extend Microsoft’s systems management framework,” said David Waugh, vice president, product management, Quest Software. “Quest has proven expertise in all areas of Windows Server management, and our customers are asking Quest to apply this expertise to help them understand and manage their ever-growing SharePoint environments.”

Earlier this year, Quest announced a free tool that automatically identifies and reports on an organization’s entire SharePoint environment. There have been thousands of downloads of Discovery Wizard for SharePoint to date.

“At HP, SharePoint enables users to collaborate with others as they generate and leverage our intellectual capital,” said Kevin Laahs, principal technology consultant, HP. “As needs evolve, effective management of the collaboration environment is required to support this business-critical information.”

Quest’s next step in supporting Microsoft SharePoint Technologies will be to deliver robust management and reporting capabilities. Expected to be available in the third quarter, this SharePoint product will provide server and site policy management and extensive reporting. It will allow users to easily access SharePoint native management tools and apply server and site rules across their network.

Later this year, Quest plans to offer new capabilities that will provide an efficient and cost-effective method to migrate content from Microsoft Exchange Server Public Folders to the SharePoint platform, supporting organizations in making SharePoint their collaboration platform of choice.

In phase four of its SharePoint roadmap Quest will deliver backup and recovery capabilities. Expected to be available early next year, this product will include item-level content recovery.

“Quest’s expertise in Active Directory and Exchange management and migration lays the groundwork for adding value to SharePoint Products and Technologies,” said Kurt DelBene, corporate vice president, Microsoft Office Server Group. “As our customers expand their use of Microsoft SharePoint Technologies, we are pleased to see Quest developing the tools that help manage SharePoint’s collaboration environment.”