IT environments are becoming increasingly more diverse and complex, and consequently harder to manage. Mobility, along with more and more “smart” devices (i.e. the Internet of Things) has led to a significant increase in the number and types of devices that are connected to corporate networks, devices that you must now track,manage and secure.
Proliferation of New Devices in IT Environments
Dimensional Research, December 2014, Sponsored by Dell
The scope of the problem becomes even larger when you also consider the number of different platforms that need to be managed – these include Windows, Windows Server, Mac OS X, Linux, UNIX, Chromebook, iOS and Android. Issues and concerns may include:
- Lack of visibility over all of the devices accessing the corporate network, which results in security and compliance concerns, and can lead to increased downtime for key systems, devices and applications. This can reduce productivity and result in frustrated end users.
- Having to use multiple tools to manage a heterogeneous environment consumes budget and human resources, introduces complexity in managing the business, and can lead to console fatigue.
- Adoption of non-Windows-systems – such as Chromebooks or Linux devices – becomes an entirely new challenge, especially due to the lack of integration of these platforms with a primary systems management solution for such key functions as asset lifecycle management and service desk.
All of these factors are driving the imperative for you to make anypoint systems management a higher priority. If your organization previously felt that it could ‘get along’ without a comprehensive systems management strategy, you are likely now feeling the pressure to find a comprehensive “anypoint” systems management solution, one that is both easy to use and addresses all of your concerns.
The Dell KACE K1000 Systems Management Appliance (K1000) provides you with that solution. The K1000 provides comprehensive systems management for computers and servers, including discovery, inventory and asset management, software distribution, patch management, policy enforcement and service desk. And the latest release of the K1000 (available in March 2015) strengthens the focus on anypoint systems management and delivers greater visibility across your entire IT environment. New and enhanced functionality expands the types of devices managed by the K1000 to Chromebooks, Windows servers and network connected non-computer devices. We have also made improvements to the usability of a number of K1000 components. With this release, the K1000:
- Becomes the first systems management solution to inventory Chromebooks – the information is integrated into K1000’s asset management, reporting, alerting and service desk workflows to provide comprehensive asset lifecycle management for Chromebooks
- Expands its server management capabilities by introducing log, threshold and application monitoring for servers
- Extends its agentless inventory capabilities to Windows servers and PCs to allay any concerns over agent-related performance issues on mission critical servers
- Enables you to gather actionable data from connected non-computer devices – printers, projectors, power back-up devices – and integrates that data with K1000’s reporting, alert and service desk workflows to enable pro-active device maintenance
- Delivers simplified deployment and ease of use through a redesigned interface and enhanced functionality for patch management, service desk agent deployment and software asset management
You can find out more about the latest enhancements to the K1000 by attending a live demo or by visiting www.kace.com or http://software.dell.com/products/kace-k1000-systems-management-appliance/.
