EasyVista.com next week is launching a hosted PC inventory service for companies that don’t have the resources to implement their own systems management platforms.
The PC Inventory Service is based on software from Staff & Line Corp., a Paris IT asset management software vendor.
EasyVista.com provides its customers with asset reports over the Internet. Companies register at EasyVista.com’s Web site and download EasyVista agents onto their servers. The agents collect information from PCs attached to the corporate network and send the data back to EasyVista.com via encrypted e-mail.
Users of the service receive reports back from EasyVista.com once per month. Users can also check their reports on-line. The on-line service is protected by user name and password authentication.
“Once it’s in place, it’s a continuing, ongoing service,” says Paul McIsaac, Easy Vista.com’s vice-president of marketing.
The PC Inventory Service comes in two flavours – Basic and Premium.
The Basic Service, which is free, encompasses 12 Adobe Acrobat PDF reports including total hardware, total software, PCs per server, new PCs, software by publisher, software and configuration changes, software vs. RAM/ CPU/operating system, free disk space warnings, missing PCs, and duplicate software installations or IP addresses.
The Premium Service reports, which cost US$5 per PC per month, are provided in an Excel format so they can be imported into other applications. The reports include: computer and logon name, IP and media access control address, server, operating system, CPU, hard drive size, screen resolution, video adapter, default printer, workgroup and basic input/output system.
Paul Bugala, an analyst with International Data Corp. in Framingham, Mass., says other management service providers offer inventory services through tools from Hewlett-Packard Co., Tivoli Systems Inc. and Computer Associates International Inc. He notes EasyVista.com’s service is geared toward smaller corporate environments that don’t require the full range of network management functions the HP, CA and Tivoli products provide.
“They’re playing to the skills shortage and the resource disadvantage, in that the well-known enterprise management tools tend to be designed for larger enterprises,” he says.
While most of EasyVista.com’s early customers have been small and mid-size companies, McIsaac says larger companies have also expressed interest in using the asset management service to track PCs at remote locations.
EasyVista.com provides all the back-office elements for its service, while a third-party data center operator provides the hosting.
The PC Inventory Service supports all types of PCs, including those running Microsoft Corp. and Novell Inc. software.
