News

KACE Introduces IT Management Appliance

• By Kathleen Ohlson
• September 12, 2005

KACE today introduced a new management suite to help mid-size companies oversee all elements on their networks: from desktops and laptops, to servers, switches and routers.

The KBOX IT Management Suite 2.0 automatically manages, monitors and controls inventory, distribution, patch, security, compliance, messaging, licensing and performance demands of every node on a network. Using a Web-based interface familiar to network administrators of various backgrounds, KBOX supports plug-and-play deployment onto the LAN in standalone mode or integrates with existing LAN services such as LDAP, Active Directory and SAN facilities.

The server appliance features auto-discovery of network-wide hardware and software configurations, as well as remote installation and distribution of applications, service packs, updates and digital assets.

The security vulnerability audit scans and reports on known security issues based on the OVAL standard, covering nearly 1,000 vulnerabilities and endorsed by the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team and the Department of Homeland Security. Security enforcement includes automatic remediation, repair and quarantine. KBOX sends out e-mail-based network alerts in either targeted or open end-user messaging.

From the suite, network administrators receive routine and ad hoc reports in HTML, PDF, CSV and text output. They can also use third-party reporting tools to analyze and mine information KBOX collected. KBOX sends out e-mail-based network alerts in either targeted or open end-user messaging.

The suite centrally maintains a knowledgebase, automatically deploying patches and reporting compliance issues. It supports existing and third-party scripts and policies, full script status and logging and reporting. Network administrators create scripts and policies either by point-and-click entry or XML. For example, a network administrator could create a script that checks a line of machines for a registry key, installed applications and a particular running process, then either updates or makes fixes based on the results.

Pricing for KBOX IT Management Suite 2.0 starts at $7,500 for a 100-node network. The KBOX Policy and Scripting and Security Enforcement and Audit Modules are priced separately.