AUSTIN, Texas – November 6, 2006 – Spiceworks™, Inc., today announced the immediate availability of version 1.0 of the Spiceworks IT Desktop, the industry’s first free IT management software designed to meet the unique needs of IT professionals in small and medium businesses and organizations. Until now, SMB IT professionals lacked a powerful yet simple network and systems management product designed with their budget and organizational requirements in mind. With the release of the 1.0 version of the Spiceworks IT Desktop, 15,000 organizations in over 140 countries around the world are using the software to manage more than 500,000 devices on their networks.
The latest version of the software, which was first released publicly in beta in late July, seamlessly integrates network inventory, hardware and software monitoring, and new help desk capabilities into one browser-based application. A simple “one-click” user interface helps deliver on the company’s goal of making managing networks and systems as simple as browsing the Internet. In addition to the help desk feature, version 1.0 introduces configuration comparison capabilities and a community Q&A that allows Spiceworks users to collaborate to resolve pressing IT issues. Together, these features provide a powerful yet easy-to-use solution small and midsize organizations can use to oversee their IT management needs.
“I was able to install and configure Spiceworks in a few minutes,” said Jeremy Garside, head of IT for the London Symphony Orchestra. “The application automatically searched our network’s three different subnets and discovered and categorized the majority of our devices and software. This made the first and most cumbersome step in the inventory and auditing process much easier. With the addition of trouble tickets and community Q&A, Spiceworks is becoming the one application I use every day to efficiently run our IT operations.”
The key features available in version 1.0 include:
- Automatic & Agent-less Hardware and Software Inventory: allows IT managers to automatically discover and inventory hardware, software, services and patches on individual machines — all without having to install agents. Users can also add custom data — such as licenses, purchase information and the physical location of devices — and compare configurations of similar devices to help troubleshoot problems more quickly.
- Trouble Tickets & IT Help Desk: allows users to track IT projects, daily work items or problems that need to be resolved. Tickets are automatically “attached” to the appropriate hardware or software in the network, eliminating time spent manually entering such information. Users are also able to easily search and report on all trouble tickets.
- Hardware and Software Monitoring: watches the network for software license compliance violations, low disk space, unauthorized software and low printer supplies. Users can also set up e-mail and SMS alerts that notify them when any of the monitors are triggered, ensuring that IT managers are quickly informed of critical issues that need attention.
- Community-Powered Q&A: allows users to submit requests for help on hardware or software problems to the Spiceworks community of users. Users are also able to see comments from other IT managers with similar issues, helping them to pinpoint problems and determine resolutions.
- On-the-fly Reports: uses live network data to create reports, such as a summary of IT assets, detailed configuration information for all computers, disk usage by device, IP phones in the network, open and closed trouble-tickets, and low disk space.
Spiceworks 1.0 runs on Windows and discovers Windows, Unix, Linux and Mac OS X machines along with any other IP-addressable device. The one-click approach has been carried all the way through to the download and installation process, which takes only a few minutes and does not require the user to install agents, write scripts, or utilize on-site support services. The application, which is supported by top technology advertisers, also simplifies the search for IT information by automatically feeding users relevant information about the products, services and support information needed to manage an SMB IT network.
“Our user community of small and midsize organizations in all kinds of industries and with a variety of backgrounds have worked together to tell us what would make a stellar IT management solution that truly meets their needs,” said Scott Abel, co-founder and CEO of Spiceworks. “Over the past three months, we listened and built the features they wanted most in a 1.0 product. We’ll continue to work closely with our user community to create a product that makes IT simple, manageable and fun.”
For more information on Spiceworks or to download the free Spiceworks beta software, visit www.spiceworks.com.
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