Kace management appliances gain scalability, security features

Company that initially targeted small to midsize companies adds scalability and patch-management features to address larger networks

Systems management vendor Kace has overhauled its two product lines to include enterprise-level capabilities such as policy-based management, change auditing and patching.

Since it entered the management market in 2003, Kace has offered capabilities geared for small to midsize customers, such as desktop and server management and patching, on its KBOX 1000 appliance. The company’s second appliance, the KBOX 2000, provides mid-tier companies with automated provisioning capabilities. New features announced Monday enable the appliances to support as many as 10,000 seats, provide policy-based management, and deliver automated patching capabilities via a partnership with Lumension Security.

"Customers want sophisticated capabilities in an easy to deploy system," says Marty Kacin, president and CTO of Kace. With the updates, the appliances can handle role-based permissions, an important capability considering compliance requirements; and iSCSI support for storage management.

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Systems management vendor Kace has overhauled its two product lines to include enterprise-level capabilities such as policy-based management, change auditing and patching.

Since it entered the management market in 2003, Kace has offered capabilities geared for small to midsize customers, such as desktop and server management and patching, on its KBOX 1000 appliance. The company’s second appliance, the KBOX 2000, provides mid-tier companies with automated provisioning capabilities. New features announced Monday enable the appliances to support as many as 10,000 seats, provide policy-based management, and deliver automated patching capabilities via a partnership with Lumension Security.

"Customers want sophisticated capabilities in an easy to deploy system," says Marty Kacin, president and CTO of Kace. With the updates, the appliances can handle role-based permissions, an important capability considering compliance requirements; and iSCSI support for storage management.

Kace also struck an OEM deal with Lumension Security to embed the latter company's PatchLink assessment and remediation technology into the KBOX systems management appliance. Through the partnership with Lumension, Kace customers can gain access to Lumension's patch management engine and vulnerability database.

Available now, KBOX 1000 starts at $9,900 for as many as 100 nodes and KBOX 2000 starts at $12,900 for as many as 100 nodes.

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