Peregrine launches Xanadu as first turnkey IT asset management appliance for SMEs

Peregrine Systems, Inc, one of the world`s leading software companies and represented locally by MGX, today introduced Xanadu, a breakthrough IT asset management appliance designed specifically for small to mid-size enterprises (SMEs). Peregrine simultaneously announced it has established the Xanadu Business Group, which is dedicated to developing strategic relationships with channel partners to serve SME customers.

Designed to serve as a company`s "next IT employee," Peregrine`s revolutionary product will make it possible to deliver sophisticated IT asset management services with a rapid return on investment to smaller companies and departments of larger organisations.

According to Gartner: "The SME market for IT products and services is enormous and the addressable opportunity for IT solutions is significant. Gartner estimates that there are more than eight million SMEs in the US and that these companies are projected to spend more than $125 billion in 2001 on IT and telecommunications." (From Subscription Service Offerings Gain Momentum, M Haines and R Silliman, June 2001.)

"The most significant impediment to technology advancement and optimisation among SMEs is lack of resources and skills. As a result, their primary criteria for selecting IT products and services, such as systems management solutions, are ease of implementation and maintenance," said Mika Krammer, Gartner, research director, small and mid-size products. "Through 2002, SMEs will focus their technology spending on security and solutions that can help them realise enhanced functionality and operational efficiency at a reasonable cost, as they make attempts to rationalise the infrastructure and systems that they already have."

Packaged as an appliance and delivered as a service, Peregrine`s Xanadu represents a formidable innovation in IT asset management. It is the first self-installing, self-detecting, no-maintenance appliance, which offers asset discovery, asset tracking and incident reporting capabilities coupled with Web-delivered employee self-service. Xanadu continuously identifies, monitors and manages an organisation`s entire IT network, providing easily understandable, comprehensive views of an organization`s vital assets - network, desktop and mobile devices - 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week. In addition, Xanadu features a user-friendly Web portal, which enables employees at client organisations to report incidents quickly and easily via the Internet. Xanadu is designed to be fully operational within days of installation, accelerating time to productivity for organisations using it at an unprecedented rate.

"The ability to manage IT assets effectively, including complex networks and mobile devices, has been largely available only to bigger companies," said Steve Gardner, Peregrine`s chairman and CEO. "Xanadu changes that forever. This product creates a revolutionary new approach to identifying, tracking and managing IT assets, while providing full employee self-service in the easiest and most intuitive manner possible. This simple, yet powerful functionality will help eliminate significant frictional costs in managing the IT assets of mid-size organisations."

Small and mid-size companies have followed the enterprise sector in becoming progressively more dependent on their underlying network and IT infrastructure. These companies, however, typically have too little time, money and expertise to manage these proliferating IT assets adequately.

To meet the demands of the SME market, Peregrine launched its Xanadu Business Group to build and expand strategic relationships within the indirect sales channel. "We see enormous growth potential in the SME market, and we are 100% committed to serving that market through our channel partners -- IT managed service providers, network service providers, systems integrators and value-added resellers (VARs) -- who will integrate Xanadu as part of customised service offerings," said Gary Lenz, executive vice president, Xanadu Business Group.

Xanadu gives IT service providers a competitive weapon in the battle for the lucrative SMB market. "We`ve created Xanadu as a catalyst for IT service providers to realize recurring revenue from additional services to meet long-term customer needs," continued Lenz. "Leveraging Peregrine`s infrastructure management expertise, Xanadu is the ideal delivery platform for customised service offerings, ranging from IT software and hardware assessments and break-fix engagements to partial or full outsourcing."

Once Xanadu is installed, IT service providers can assess and monitor their clients` IT infrastructure continuously and efficiently. With the information Xanadu provides, including detailed analysis of all network resources as well as service requests, Peregrine`s channel partners are able to offer customised service offerings to help their SMB clients manage the full scope of their ever-changing IT infrastructure.