n Technology Inc. is set to steal a march on Microsoft with a product designed to make software distribution easier and more cost-effective.
The company's On Command Comprehensive Client Manager, to be rolled out on July 14, has two main features. One will let administrators distribute software before the operating system boots; most other software-distribution products run after the operating system has booted on the end-user's PC.
Pre-boot distribution not only lets the administrator put security measures in place, like sealing diskette drives or setting up security rights, but it also makes it easier to distribute new operating systems. "This is one of the best technologies we've seen so far to help enable operating system upgrades," says Ray Paquet, an analyst at Gartner Group Inc., an IT advisory firm in Stamford, Conn.
The second main feature of Comprehensive Client Manager is remote distribution. "If you're a business with 60 locations, this can provide you with a huge savings in perso
nnel costs," says Norm Bogen, a senior analyst at In-Stat Inc., a research firm in Scottsdale, Ariz. "The key is that I don't have to touch the machines. There's a huge cost savings if I can manage everything centrally."
The real cost savings come when Comprehensive Client Manager is teamed with 3Com Corp.'s Managed PC network interface card and Lanworks' NetPC firmware. 3Com's Managed PC adapter, expected to be released this fall, will include a LAN feature that lets an administrator turn on a remote PC. The adapter will also include remote-boot capabilities as well as Desktop Management Interface, SNMP, and RMON management features. Lanworks' firmware will make 3Com's adapters NetPC-compliant.
"This is zero-administration stuff. It's the wave of the future," says In-Stat's Bogen. But, he notes, On Technology faces stiff competition from Microsoft, which plans to offer the same capabilities in its Zero Administration for Windows next year. "Even if Zero Administration for Windows is a few years away,
who's going to buy into this today knowing Microsoft's product is coming down the road?" Bogen says.
German telephone company Deutsche Telekom uses Comprehensive Client Manager to distribute software on more than 62,000 PCs. Deutsche Telekom has been using an earlier version of the product since 1992, when it was offered by German company csd Software GmbH. On Technology bought csd Software in January.
Using a single product to distribute software to 62,000 PCs is "amazing," says Gartner's Paquet, who adds: "It's the biggest implementation of a software-distribution product we know of."
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n Technology Inc. is set to steal a march on Microsoft with a product designed to make software distribution easier and more cost-effective.
