Interactive scorecard and NetResults: Desktop managment

Network World Fusion, 01/31/00

Every network is unique. This calculator lets you change the weights given to scores from our review to see which product might be best suited for your needs. Here's how it works: In each category, our reviewers rated the apps on a 1-10 basis. These ratings are then multiplied by the percentage weighting, and then added up to give an overall product score. Any score above 9 is considered "world class."

For each category below, assign the percentage weight you think is most appropriate. The percent-o-meter box on the right will keep track of your weightings to let you know when you've reached 100%. When you fill in the last box, hit your enter key, and you'll see how the apps rate (along with our final scores for comparison).

Percent-
o-meter

Category	Our wgt	Yr wgt	Category	Our wgt	Yr wgt
Hardware inventory	10%	%	Inte- gration	10%	%
Software inventory	10%	%	Reprtng	10%	%
Lic. mtering	10%	%	Client supp.	5%	%
Sftwre dist.	10%	%	Anti- virus	5%	%
Dsktp config.	10%	%	Remote control	5%	%
Mgmt / alrtng	10%	%	Docs.	5%	%

Results table

Below, you'll find the 1-10 score given to each app by our reviewers. To obtain the final score: Multiply each individual score by the weighting given that category, then add up all those resulting numbers.

Lan-
Desk Desk-
top Net-
Wizard ZEN-
Works IT
Dir. SMS LAN-
util 32

Hardware inventory 9 9 8 8 8 7 7

Software inventory 9 9 8 8 8 7 7

Lic. metering 8 7 7 8 5 7 6

Sftwre dist. 8 9 8 7 8 7 6

Desktop config. 7 7 8 8 7 8 7

Mgmt / alrt. 9 7 7 8 7 7 6

Integration 8 7 8 8 8 9 7

Reporting 9 8 8 7 8 7 7

Client support 9 7 7 7 8 7 7

Anti-virus 8 1 1 1 2 1 1

Remote cntrl 9 7 7 7 7 8 7

Documentation 8 8 8 7 8 6 8

Our total 8.4 7.45 7.35 7.3 7.15 7 6.45

YOUR TOTAL

NetResults

LANDesk Management Suite 6.3
Intel Corp.
2200 Mission College Blvd.
Santa Clara, Calif. 95052-8119
(800) 538-3373
Fax: (801) 763-2478
Web site
From $1,000 for 10 nodes to $50,000 for 1,000 nodes
Pros: Excellent client support; Strong event notification options; Bundled antivirus utility; Wide-range of remote control options; Best backend database support.

Cons: Limited desktop configuration tools

Desktop Management Suite 3.5
VERITAS Software Corp.
1600 Plymouth Street
Mountain View, Calif. 94043
(800) 327-2232
Fax: (650) 335-8050
Web site
$56 per node up to 50 nodes decreasing to $37 per node at 1,000 nodes
Pros: Offers customizable inventory forms; Good reporting tools; Sophisticated software distribution options.
Cons: No anti-virus tools.

NetWizard Plus 4.11
Attachmate Corp.
3617 131st Avenue SE
Bellevue,Wash. 98006
(800) 426-6283
Fax: (425) 747-9924
From $850 for 10 users to $82,000 for 1,000 users
Pros: Ships with a software distribution rollback tool; Good desktop configuration tools.
Cons: No anti-virus tools.

ZENWorks 2.0
Novell Inc.
1555 N. Technology Way
Orem, Utah 85907-2399
(800) 453-1267
Fax: (801) 222-5179
Web site
From $295 for 5 users to $5,900 for 100 users.
Pros: Great scripting support; License metering tied to NDS; Strong desktop configuration tools.
Cons: NetWare centric.

IT Director 2.1
Tivoli Systems Inc.
9442 Capital of Texas Hwy. North
Austin, Texas 78759
(800) 2TIVOLI
Fax: (512) 794-0623
Web site
$8,995 for 20 nodes
Pros: Supports HTML-based reporting; Streamlines software package creation.
Cons: No native license metering or antivirus tools; Expensive

SMS 2.0 SP1
Microsoft Corp.
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, Wash. 98052-6399
(800) 426-9400
Fax: (206) 93MSFAX
Web site
$1,129 for 10 client licenses with additional 50-client packs costing $239.
Pros: Strong license metering utility; Strong desktop configuration tools.
Cons: Substandard documentation; Windows centric.

LANUtil 32 Suite FT6
Vector Networks Inc.
3425-D Corporate Way
Duluth
Atlanta, Ga. 30096
(800) 330-5035
Fax: (770) 495-6214
Web site
$120 per node for 5 seats; $65 per node for 100 seats; $36 per node for 1,000 seats
Pros: Inexpensive; Good reporting tools.
Cons: Licensing tools lacking; Requires a proprietary back-end database.