Novell has announced the availability of Novell ZENworks for Desktops 3.2, the latest version of the most widely deployed directory-enabled desktop management solution on the market.
The new ZENworks for Desktops features advanced enterprise workstation imaging, imaging compression and enhanced thin-client session management, powerful new tools designed to address the challenges of limited bandwidth in the face of increasingly mobile workforces and highly distributed desktop environments.
Leveraging the power of Novell NDS eDirectory to simplify management, ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 operates across network operating systems, including Novell NetWare and Windows NT/2000, managing Windows workstations on networks as one Net.
According to a recent IDC white paper, ZENworks gave customers a payback time of less than three months and an average three-year return on investment (ROI) of 2 039%.
"ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 enhances what is already the leading desktop management product on the market," said Novell SA systems engineer Allisson Singh. "ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 delivers management features that further reduce the time, costs and resources associated with managing workstations. Customers can save millions of dollars, using their resources for more important objectives like delivering improved service to their own customers."
Novell ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 will also feature an add-on option supporting PXE (Preboot Execution Environment) functionality - ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 Preboot Services. PXE is part of Intel`s Wired for Management specification and allows a workstation to be booted and managed before the workstation operating system starts. This will provide ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 customers completely hands-free, birth-to-death management of workstations.
Technicians no longer need to visit machines to deliver or build the desktop operating system, vastly simplifying the management of Net resources and reducing the cost of a customer`s roll-out of Windows 2000 Professional or other desktop operating system. ZENworks provides the only imaging solution on the market that identifies the configuration of the PC and applies the correct image automatically according to policies stored in the directory.
Enhancements to ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 include ZENworks Imaging compression, a tool that allows desktop OS image files to be 40% to 60% smaller on average, significantly accelerating their deployment while reducing traffic over the wire. ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 also delivers enhancements in stability, scalability and customisation for all customers managing thin-client sessions using ZENworks. The new ZENworks Policy Deployment wizard allows customers to automate the creation and replication of ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 policies within their tree. This means bringing a new department or site online and creating the corporate standard policies requires just a couple of mouse clicks.
The new version has an updated inventory scanning to read Windows Management Interface (WMI) data. ZENworks Imaging client/server multicast allows customers to push desktop OS images to multiple workstations through a single multicast session from the server. This enhancement decreases time and bandwidth consumption during mass deployment of workstation image. It also has advanced imaging scripting that lets customers embed advanced imaging commands within the imaging policy. Tasks such as partition manipulation and other imaging tasks that were previously only available from the imaging engine`s command prompt are now available through ConsoleOne.
The new remote control agent features compression over the wire, giving ZENworks remote control a speed boost from 20% to 50%. In practical terms, users can expect to comfortably remote control a 1024x768x256 colour screen resolution over a 64Kbps WAN link. Furthermore, Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) enhancements accommodate changes in Windows installer technology.
When ZENworks for Desktops is combined with ZENworks for Servers, which automates server updates, businesses gain an extremely cost-effective end-to-end management solution for their entire network. Administrators can automate software packages or desktop images, deploy them once on a single server, and let ZENworks` Tiered Electronic Distribution (TED) deliver the content to NetWare, NT and Windows 2000 servers and desktops throughout the organisation.
Share
Novell, Inc is a leading provider of Net services software that secures and powers all types of networks - intranets, the Internet and extranets; corporate and public; wired to wireless - as one Net, across leading operating systems.
Editorial contacts