Small and medium businesses eventually grow into larger enterprises. Consequently, Spiceworks, one of the new breed network management suppliers, has upgraded the capabilities found with its IT Desktop management system: increasing the number of supported devices, providing more granular features, boosting performance, and adding more integration options.The vendor has tried to take the bite out of small and medium network management purchases. These products often came with lots of capabilities but very high prices tags, so they did not gain much acceptance in the SMB sector. To drive down costs, Spiceworks relies on an advertising based revenue model rather than the licensing options traditionally followed. The company claims that more than 500,000 IT professionals use its tools to manage their networks.

To grow that number, the vendor formally announced Spiceworks IT Desktop version 3.5, after completion of its public beta test program. The management system can now monitor 500 devices - double the previous recommended limit. In addition, businesses can prioritize and customize scans of their networks at the subnet level. Customers can now use an integrated SQL editor to generate reports that include graphical displays and can be exported as widgets on any Spiceworks Dashboard page. Users can also share widgets and reports with other members of the Spiceworks community. The vendor has also made it possible for customers to integrate its system with the Nagios open source platform.

Spiceworks has been able to carve out a viable niche by supplying low cost, functional network management tools. Now, the firm is trying to move up the network management ladder and support the needs of larger companies. It will be interesting to see if many take the vendor up on its pitch.