Some Thrid Party Products for Software Inventory

[jpmackl]

Hi - I have found 2 products for help with Software Inventory and getting good reports.

Has anyone used these?

1. Altiris Express 5.1

http://www.altiris.com

2. Power Census

http://www.tallysystems.com

Both collect data in a usable format and puts it in a MIF for SMS 2.0 to pickup.

Has anyone tried these products?

Thanks!

 

[epohl]

I have not actually used Altiris Express, but I have used and older product by Altiris (Serial +) and it worked quite well with SMS 2.0. But you can not buy it seperately now (I believe it is bundled in the express package). But my overall experience will Altiris was good, I was satisfied with the product and the support. And just as a tip I can tell you that whatever price they quote you per seat is definitely negotiable.

 

[adrianw3]

You might also be interested in a product by 1E Ltd, called Quick Inventory.

http://www.1e.com/products/QuickInventory/default.asp

 

[RodTrent]

If you are down to the two products, there's quite a large base of companies that have deployed the Altiris products, and I'm surprised no one else has posted information for you.

Tally was a great solution in the SMS 1.2 world (though it did have its quirks), but, to tell you the truth, I've not heard of anyone implementing Tally products in a long while. They just seem to have dropped off the face of the planet.

The Altiris line of systems management products are quite a bit ahead of their time, actually. There are features in the latest release that you won't see in SMS until sometime next year when Topaz is completed and released to the public. Rod Trent

http://www.myITForum.com

- formerly SWYNK.com
Microsoft SMS Installer ISBN:0072124474
Admin911:SMS ISBN:0072130229
IIS 5.0: A Beginner's Guide - ISBN:0072133724

 

[jpmackl]

Thanks for all the information!!

Just a note:
The Power Census is a new product from Tally Systems.
It seems like a low cost alternative - I think it was
$4.00 - $5.00 dollars per seat VS Altiris was much higher
but it sound like the pricing is not locked in.

Topaz - We had Microsoft here last week - It did not sound like Topaz was going to be very robust in this arena - I understand they are pushing the Software Compliance group at Microsoft to pay for this functionallity that SMS 2.0

Thanks!