Hands off my assets: 6 asset management packages tested

AuditWizard

 Asset management
AuditWizard didn't take very long to install, in fact we were able to install the standard version of the software in less than a minute.

When the installation was complete we launched the Network Discovery feature. The AuditWizard recovered the names, domain/workgroup, and IP addresses of the assets connected to our network. In order to audit all your PCs, you have to start by building the network scanner using the ScannerWizard then you have to run the scanner using a login script. The ScannerWizard is essentially a profile that allows you to customise the scanner settings. With it you can interrogate the hardware or software or both.

This is where it got a little messy. We had to create a shareable folder on our server. (Note that you don't have to install the AuditWizard on a server, it will happily run on a standard PC.) From here we had to make sure that every PC that was going to be audited could see this folder on the server. We also had to write a one-line script that would invoke the network scanner from the client PCs.

On every reboot, the script would execute the network scanner and save a file in the shareable folder, which could be imported into the AuditWizard where the administrator could view the results of the audit. You can also run an audit manually using a floppy disk or via e-mail.

The AuditWizard uses a Windows Explorer-type interface that allows you to expand items and drill down levels. Some of the key features within the package are:

  • Automatic network discovery
  • Collects asset, user, hardware and software details
  • Identifies all Windows installed applications and collects all the serial numbers
  • Alert monitor (alerts the administrator of changes in the assets)
  • Reporting and data export options
  • Audits user Internet activity

The ReportWizard allowed us to quickly create user-defined reports. You can create tabular reports, pie charts and bar graphs. You can also export data so you can edit the data in another application.

AuditWizard can also audit Internet activity. This actually goes beyond asset management and moves more into PC monitoring and tracking. There are many other tools that just do this sort of thing and all we can say is that there are some moral and privacy issues surrounding the use of tracking packages to monitor what your employees are doing on the Internet.

The AuditWizard performed reasonably well. AuditWizard does a good job of interrogating hardware. It drills down quite deep but not deep enough to discover what driver versions the hardware is using. It does however discover software versions and it tells you whether they are registered or not.

Product AuditWizard
Price $1995 for 250 nodes
Vendor Layton Technology
Phone 02 9211 9955
Web www.laytontechnology.com.au
 
Interoperability ½
Good hardware and software support.
Futureproofing
Not many options for expansion.
ROI
A great price for larger installations; less than $8 per node.
Service ½
Free e-mail, phone, fax, and user forum support, onsite at usual commercial rates.
Rating ½

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Talkback 4 comments

  1. Geez you guys, do you think you could have included appropriate candidates for this topic? Where is Marimba, Landesk, Paradigm, Tivoli? The fact that these were not included make this inaccurate! Anonymous -- 15/04/04

    Geez you guys, do you think you could have included appropriate candidates for this topic? Where is Marimba, Landesk, Paradigm, Tivoli?
    The fact that these were not included make this inaccurate!

  2. Guess Mike in previous comment does not see the difference in IT asset management and device management. Bigger issue in the items listed is these are all legacy software solutions. Difficult to integrate, upgrade headaches and very intrusive to your en Anonymous -- 18/08/04

    Guess Mike in previous comment does not see the difference in IT asset management and device management. Bigger issue in the items listed is these are all legacy software solutions. Difficult to integrate, upgrade headaches and very intrusive to your environment. Look at products that will grow and support you in the future and link easily to enterprise systems. Look at incontroltechnology.com

  3. other options Stuart McDonell -- 10/11/05

    Some others to think about include Centennial and Opsware. This doesn't end the list by any means. BMC-Marimba and Tivoli do ITAM also. The Opsware solution ATE (originating in Tangram) was the leader for desktop inventory. It supports all major platforms and allows Lifecycle management. Ask vendors to do a proof of concept, some won't. A proven track record of integrating to similar systems to your own is also important. Regards.

  4. Sofware Asset Management Review Petar -- 15/03/07

    We have 2 software packages BAM (Biomedical Asset Management) and NAMES (naval asset management ).
    We would like to be reviewed. How can we have you review our software?

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