RedMonk’s Coté has posted a great overview of Microsoft System Center Essentials. 
If “you’re primarily concerned about managing Windows based IT for 500 devices or less, what I saw seemed impressive and up to snuff for my expectations of ease of use and setup.”
He had a couple of gripes, for instance, it didn’t seem to have a way to support third-party products. But it can, of course, be used with System Center Operations Manager. He found the help documention downright “hip” in its Wiki format, too.
Overall, he likes it.
“My sense is that if you’re a shop with under 500 devices to manage and you’re really just concerned with Microsoft based devices (along with generic-ish network devices), SCE is worth checking out. It does, of course, cost money, starting at $2,000, but it’s quite feature packed for an “entry level” management platform. The primary thing it’s missing is a service desk.”
