AUSTIN, Texas – June 15, 2009 – Spiceworks™, Inc., which provides the first free social IT management application for small and medium businesses, today announced the release of the Spiceworks IT Desktop version 4.0. The new version, available later this week, has several enhancements that make it easier for small and midsize businesses to manage “Everything IT.” They include the ability to visually map a company’s IT network and the addition of 3rd party management plug-ins from Microsoft, LiveOffice, Intel and Trend Micro. In addition, Spiceworks now integrates with Twitter and allows users to turn Windows events into social media alerts for collaborative problem-solving and to share real-time SMB IT trends with the world’s largest network of IT professionals.
“Spiceworks understands that for small businesses to effectively manage technology they must not only automate daily IT tasks but also connect with peers and information for help,” said Scott Alan Miller, Director of Information Technology, Niagara Technology Group. “The new features available in this latest release do just that by making it easier for us to collaborate with other businesses for technical advice, troubleshooting tips, and to advance our IT knowledge.”
Additional highlights on the dozens of new features available in version 4.0 of the Spiceworks IT Desktop include:
- Network Mapping – the fully-integrated network mapping application automatically creates network diagrams that graphically display network elements, their relationships, and bandwidth consumption. The “Hotspot” mode uses enhanced visualization features to help IT managers visually monitor and troubleshoot network problems in real-time.
- Management Application Plug-ins – top technology vendors, including Microsoft, LiveOffice, Intel and Trend Micro, have built management widgets that plug into Spiceworks to help users better manage technology from those vendors. The LiveOffice Mail Archive Widget, for example, allows users to archive email accounts from within Spiceworks in a couple of clicks. The Microsoft License Organizer allows users to automatically track Microsoft licenses and to order additional licenses when needed. Additionally, Intel offers a plug-in that allows IT pros to see which computers are vPro-enabled.
- Help Desk Tickets Anywhere – users can control the Spiceworks help desk from any email-enabled device, including mobile phones. With a few simple key strokes, users can create new tickets, edit & update existing tickets, and delete tickets from anywhere – whether right next to a user’s desktop or half-way across town.
- Social Windows Event and Twitter Alerts – users can now see how other IT pros have prioritized and managed various Windows Events. With one-click they can view Windows event background pages and read community group discussions on how to best troubleshoot and resolve related problems. In addition, activity updates sent from within Spiceworks can now be automatically updated or “cc:’d” to a user’s Twitter account. These features help small businesses to use social networking tools to resolve and stay better informed on IT issues.
“With the collective knowledge of more than 700,000 IT professionals and most of the world’s top IT vendors, the Spiceworks IT Network has become the largest resource for SMB IT ‘how-to’ advice on the web,” said Scott Abel, co-founder and CEO of Spiceworks, Inc. “Combining this incredible knowledge resource with our new network mapping, social and 3rd party product features will help IT managers to better support the 22 million employees who depend on them everyday.”
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