Julian Ashbourn

Set any group of business IT users talking and it will not be long before the subject of passwords and application access control crops up. The "I have more passwords than you" debate will then take place, followed by some imaginative suggestions for getting around the system, together with colorful observations about the relative effectiveness of passwords in any event.

LANDesk Asset Manager – actually an add-in to the comprehensive LANDesk Management Suite 8.1 application – provides a host of valuable functionality.

Altiris speaks in terms of "lifecycle management," by which it means managing your IT-related assets throughout their useful term of operation. This is enabled by the provision of a core Notification Server, to which might be added a Server Provisioning Suite, a Client Management Suite , (CMS), and an Asset Management Suite, (AMS). The Altiris brochure also describes a utility named the Wise Package Studio which, as you might expect, provides for software distribution.

Centennial Discovery 4.51 is a comprehensive, but easy to use, auditing tool which might be used with a variety of client operating systems. It requires Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 or later, a run-time version of which is supplied on the installation CD.

This product is a straightforward and competent auditing tool whose apparent simplicity and ease of use will appeal to many system administrators.

Intuit Track-It! is a comprehensive suite of integrated modules which provide some interesting and useful functionality. The product is available in three flavours of Single User, Standard (facilitating multiple users) and Enterprise, and is nicely presented throughout with good documentation.

PC-Duo Enterprise is a well presented application that effectively steers users through all major functions via well-considered dialogs. This "learn-as-you-go" approach will suit the busy network administrator with limited previous experience.

This is a very interesting application which enables you to monitor compliance with policies via audits against your IT infrastructure. This alone would represent valuable functionality, but Security Expressions does not stop there.

Praise be! A software vendor that supplies a comprehensive and well-written printed product manual, and a host of other documentation to leave you in no doubt about the product, and how best to use it.

Installing Unicenter takes a little longer than average, but the process is glitch-free and logical, setting the tone for the use of the product.