Tangram Releases Asset Insight(R) V2.5
Two New Subsystems and Enhancements Make It Easier to Track and Manage Asset
Trends, Year 2000 Desktop Compliance and Infrastructure Devices
In the Enterprise
CARY, N.C., May 15 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its continuing strategy to broaden the definition of asset tracking and extend its functionality in the enterprise, North Carolina-based Tangram Enterprise Solutions, Inc., (Nasdaq: TESI), announced today that two new subsystems have been added to the newest release of Asset Insight, which will make it easier to track and manage asset trends, desktop compliance issues and infrastructure devices in the enterprise. Asset Insight is an automated and robust asset tracking system that associates users and departments with current and historical hardware, software and configuration information for desktops, servers and associated infrastructures within entire distributed enterprise.
The new release, which will become generally available May 18, includes two new major subsystems. The Compliance Modeler Subsystem enables organizations to plan, calculate the costs, and avoid conflicts that result from multiple software upgrades on individual enterprise desktops. The Infrastructure Subsystem helps organizations track and maintain tighter control of their networked devices such as bridges, switches, routers and hubs, to reduce their Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Other enhancements announced by the company include a top applications analysis, expanded historical and advanced reporting and auditing capabilities, and new asset viewing features.
Compliance Modeler Subsystem
To help customers successfully plan, manage, avoid conflicts and implement multiple software upgrades on individual desktops throughout the enterprise, Tangram developed the Compliance Modeler Subsystem. This subsystem examines each desktop and determines the additional components (memory, software, disk space) required to run multiple upgrades. The Compliance Modeler then combines the net desktop changes and associated costs into a single enterprise-wide case summary analysis. It also prepares individual desktop work orders reflecting the net changes required for each workstation. This enables organizations to put a myriad of changes into perspective, thereby reducing unnecessary end-user downtime, system conflicts, and redundant purchases. This information is especially pertinent as organizations work to correct multiple, non-compliant Y2K applications.
The work orders enable planners to determine precisely what is needed for each desktop, ensuring that each desktop is touched only once during the upgrade process. Asset Insight can also generate a detail report that combines the information in each work order into a single tabular report. Users can specify which fields they want to view, such as name, location, current operating system, current RAM, required RAM, and so on. Work orders can be used to obtain fixed price quotations from installation vendors, since they provide a desktop-by-desktop breakdown of requirements that can be sorted by geographic region or other criteria. Contractors can use the work orders to improve the accuracy of their quotations and installation plans since the reports provide a detailed road map of the work to be completed.
Pricing for the Compliance Modeler Subsystem varies according to the services offered by the VAR or systems integrator with the average cost per desktop being under $10.
Infrastructure Subsystem
The new Asset Insight Infrastructure Subsystem enables business managers to automatically discover and track the location and history of any network device, including corporate bridges, switches, routers, hubs and printers, that responds to the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).
Using SNMP intelligence, Asset Insight discovers network devices and maps the information into Asset Insight's open database, extending the range of the Asset Insight enterprise asset repository. Currently, Asset Insight can detect: device type, system name, location, serial number, software version, firmware version, model number, IP address, manufacturer, information specific to the device type, as well as information specific to the manufacturer. The information that is collected is easily accessible using Asset Insight's built-in reporting, auditing and viewing features. Organizations can generate any number of ad hoc queries, such as:
* List the location and manufacturer of every router in the organization.
* List all devices that have moved in the past 60 days, including their
current locations.
Similarly, organizations can use Asset Insight to create any number of standards, such as "All routers must have at least 16 MB of RAM." Once a violation is detected in the enterprise, then Asset Insight automatically notifies the administrator via e-mail or an SNMP alert.
The Asset Insight Infrastructure Subsystem is priced on a per node basis comparable to the Asset Insight current pricing structure. The cost of Asset Insight ranges between $40 and $60 per node, depending upon the VAR and services provided.
According to Steve Kuekes, Chief Technology Officer for Tangram Enterprise Solutions, Asset Insight's newest enhancements make the product one of the most comprehensive yet flexible software solutions on the market today to assist organizations in managing their IT assets.
"Between our traditional asset discovery agents, the new Asset Insight Desktop Management Interface (DMI) Discovery Module we announced in March, and the SNMP technology we incorporated into version 2.5, we can get asset data from practically anywhere and turn it into meaningful information for the enterprise," Kuekes stated. "What's more, with the new enhanced reporting capabilities featured in version 2.5, customers can now easily access both current and historical information in any format that they require, creating fine-tuned reports and analyses that further extend our customers' decision- making capabilities."
According to Christopher Germann, a research director with Gartner Group, "An organization's ability to provide multiple options for discovering asset data will be key in satisfying asset tracking requirements in the coming years. With more than 75 percent of all organizations slated to initiate some form of asset tracking by the year 2002," Germann noted, "the ability to have multiple discovery technologies and reporting tools will play a key role in establishing high levels of accountability for enterprises of all sizes."
Other Enhancements
In addition to the Subsystems, enhancements to Asset Insight v2.5 also include:
* Top Applications Analysis. The analysis lists the top 60 applications in
a specified department so that organizations can prioritize which
non-compliant Year 2000 applications they want to fix and in what order.
* Report Historian. With the Report Historian, the historical information
that is automatically tracked by Asset Insight can now be accessed and
used to generate reports. As a result, organizations can generate an
unlimited number of ad hoc reports that spotlight the history of any
asset in the central repository.
* Audit Historian. Organizations can now define conditions (standards)
based on historical asset information. When these conditions are
encountered, the Asset Insight Auditor will automatically send a
notification via email or alert. For instance, organizations can define
a standard such as: "All assets should have at least as much memory now
as they did during the last inventory," etc.
* Asset Insight Views. With this feature, users can access subsets of the
repository based on geographic location, department, division, and more.
Organizations can also restrict users from accessing sensitive asset
information, such as human resource data, in the repository.
* Answer Desk. A new customizable Desktop Guru interface, the Answer
Desk, enables administrators and help desk professionals to "drill down"
to any asset in the central repository, including network devices
discovered by the Infrastructure Subsystem.
For more than a decade, Tangram Enterprise Solutions, Inc., has provided state-of-the-art information technology asset tracking and electronic software distribution solutions to major organizations throughout the world. Tangram's product lines support the leading industry-standard client/server and local area network environments, as well as all major connectivity options, including the Internet and other TCP/IP communications protocols.
Presently, Asset Insight is marketed through Tangram's indirect sales channel consisting of some 30 national, international and regional partners including Vanstar, CompuCom, EDS, GE Capital Information Services, XLConnect, Ingram Micro and MicroAge, among others.
Tangram is a member of the Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. (NYSE: SFE), headquartered in Wayne, Pennsylvania. Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. is a unique partnership of entrepreneurial companies focused on information technology markets, including 33 partnership companies and eight venture funds with aggregate value in excess of $2 billion. Safeguard strategically invests in and actively supports the development of its companies, and as appropriate, brings its partnership companies public through rights offerings.
All product names are the registered trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE Tangram Enterprise Solutions, Inc.
CO: Tangram Enterprise Solutions, Inc.
ST: North Carolina
IN: CPR
SU: PDT |
