Is it hard to set up Microsoft Forefront Endpoint protection?
Solution 1:
You can install, configure and update FEP 2010 without using SCCM.
Extract the FEP policies from the Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 Tools and import the provided ADMX/ADML files into your domain. You can then configure FEP using Group Policy instead of via SCCM.
Solution 2:
AS Jscott says you can configure it and i will operate perfectly without System Center Configuration Manager but you will lose the reports and alerts components.