I am very excited by the increasing availability of appliance-based products for systems management.

Early this year, EMA published research into Linux management that included a case study featuring the Levanta Intrepid M, a management appliance for provisioning and managing Linux environments. It comes with built-in storage and a number of pre-defined templates, allowing businesses to simply plug the device into the network and start provisioning new systems almost instantly. It also provides a range of related features, like rollback, on-demand deployment, migration, etc. As I wrote in that report, one administrator thought that the sophisticated features of the Levanta appliance were "really indistinguishable from magic."

In late August, Citrix and Microsoft announced plans to cooperate on a multifunction appliance for branch offices. Based on Windows Server and Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server, the Citrix WANScaler Branch Office Appliance is designed to provide remote or branch users with much faster access to remote applications by optimizing the application traffic over a wide area network. Because it will be shipped as a fully built appliance, it will be easily connected and ready for use very quickly. It can also be remotely managed, so it will solve significant headaches for both IT staff and branch users.

In the same month, Kace introduced the latest generation of its excellent KBOX series of appliances. The additions include the KBOX 2000 Series for provisioning, and the KBOX 1000 Series that automates inventory and configuration management, software distribution, patch management, and more. The latest version includes support for Red Hat Linux and Apple Mac, as well as improved reporting. As I wrote in an EMA paper about the original KBOX, overloaded small and midsize businesses cannot afford not to automate with product like this.

Like many appliances, the KBOX and Intrepid M are specifically aimed at the SMB market and the Citrix/Microsoft appliance is aimed at remote branches. Such customer organizations simply do not have the free IT staff to perform often complex management tasks. Many of them do not have any IT staff at all. As such, deploying a heavyweight software solution is often not viable. On the other hand, even a branch manager or business owner can plug in an appliance, and get up and running with sophisticated management tools in minutes.

Denise Dubie is senior editor with Network World.