Intel Answers Business Demand for Better Desktop PC Control

LANDesk Management Suite 6 Helps Reduce Support Costs; Facilitates First-Call Problem Resolution Efforts for Windows NT* and NetWare* Environments

HILLSBORO, Ore., Oct. 21, 1997 -- Intel Corporation today took a major step in delivering improved control for information technology (IT) managers working to lower the cost of supporting networked desktop and mobile PCs. The company unveiled LANDeskManagement Suite 6, an integrated set of powerful 32-bit services that allows PCs in mixed Windows NT* and NetWare* environments to be remotely managed and repaired from a single control point.

LANDesk Management Suite 6 is the cornerstone of Intel's LANDesk family of products and plays a key role in helping IT managers better control the key stages of the network evolutionary cycle: configuration and deployment, persistent management, and critical node protection. The suite offers customers a fourfold value proposition to increase "first-call" problem resolution rates and lower overall PC support costs:

• Powerful 32-bit remote problem resolution services
• Centralized control for managing networked client PCs in Windows NT or NetWare environments, or environments with both
• Management of the transition to a 32-bit and Windows NT environment that helps retain the value of investments in new and legacy PCs
• Integration of remote problem resolution capabilities with leading help desk and enterprise management frameworks

"Intel wants to help IT managers meet their company's challenge to lower total cost of ownership, even as network size and complexity impose greater demands on IT staff," said Ed Ekstrom,, vice president in Intel's Internet and Communications Group and general manager of the Systems Management Division. "By implementing LANDesk Management 6 and developing sound desktop management policies, IT managers can reduce the support burden with fewer calls to the help desk and faster solutions to the calls that remain."

The suite complements Intel's Wired for Management (WFM) initiative, a wide-ranging effort to further reduce the costs of business computing without compromising necessary flexibility or performance. LANDesk Management Suite 6 takes full advantage of WFM's PC management instrumentation to increase the efficiency of systems management tasks. IT managers can now provide off-hours maintenance from the LANDesk console by executing "remote wake-up" of unattended WFM-compliant PCs and Network PCs (Net PCs) for software distribution, inventory scans or remote problem resolution efforts.

Changing Networks Need Centralized Control
LANDesk Management Suite 6 addresses the need of many IT managers to control all client PCs on both Windows NT and NetWare networks from a single console. The suite's flexibility helps organizations keep up with constant network evolution, including complete transitions to Windows NT or evolving mixed environments. LANDesk Management Suite 6 tools offer software distribution, remote control, hardware and software inventory, software metering, virus protection, server management, and more.

By developing a sound desktop management policy, IT managers can establish the desktop consistency, continuity and centralized control that is needed to maximize staff productivity and minimize disruptions to user productivity. The integrated tools of LANDesk Management Suite 6 allow businesses to go beyond cut-and-paste integration and put key desktop tools to work that share a common infrastructure, including the console, alerting, database and reporting. IT managers can further boost first-call resolution rates by taking advantage of the suite's leading remote control technology, which is tightly integrated with software and hardware inventory and system diagnostics across Windows NT and NetWare platforms.

In addition, LANDesk Management Suite 6 reduces the "islands of automation" often faced by IT Managers. The suite brings together help desk, desktop and enterprise management for a more complete solution. Intel extends its first-call and remote problem resolution capabilities to leading help desk software providers through Intel Desktop Integrator Technology and to enterprise management frameworks through the Intel/Tivoli Multi-Platform Manager (MPM) application programming interface (API).

Deployment and Protection
Intel designed LANDesk Management Suite 6 as a best-in-class solution for the day-to-day management portion of the network evolution cycle. The suite also provides key deployment capabilities such as software distribution for both 16- and 32-bit applications. In protection, the suite offers integrated client virus protection that is upgradeable to full virus policy management through the server-based LANDesk Virus Protect. In addition, the suite's digital certificate technology provides authentication to help ensure software distribution packages originate from the correct server, thus avoiding unauthorized changes.

The LANDesk family of products is a key part of Intel's work to make PC networks less costly to deploy, manage and protect. Other LANDesk products include LANDesk Configuration Manager for automated configuration and deployment, LANDesk Server Manager Pro and LANDesk Virus Protect for critical node protection, and LANDesk Client Manager, an application distributed by PC manufacturers that monitors the health of PCs.

Available in early November, LANDesk Management Suite 6 is priced as low as $50 per node license (U.S. suggested list). Additional volume pricing and upgrade programs are also available. All Intel networking products are available worldwide through a network of distributors and value-added resellers. Additional product information is available at (800) 538-3373 for U.S. and Canadian customers; at (44) 1-793-431-155 for European customers; or at (503) 264-7353 for other international customers.

* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.