Pretoria-based pre-boot specialist PreWorX has clinched a new OEM (original equipment manufacture) agreement with Brainware, a Swiss software development company focused on the management, automation and distribution of software to the desktop. The deal will see Brainware integrating pre-boot imaging technology developed by PreWorX into Columbus, its flagship PC management application.
Columbus is designed to ease the management and deployment of PC operating systems and applications in large companies. The latest version features online inventory and asset management, Web-based business process automation and a trouble ticketing process for internal helpdesks.
Some 120 000 desktops in Swiss companies already have Columbus installed. In addition, Brainware has also entered the German market, one of the largest in Europe. The agreement will see PreWorX technology available to all Brainware`s clients, greatly expanding the potential European market for PreWorX`s solutions. PreWorX already has an agreement with Novell to include its imaging technology in Novell`s ZENWorks management suite.
"The relationship between PreWorX and Brainware goes back to 2002," says Rhys Taylor, executive director of PreWorX. "In that time we have found remarkable similarities and a common vision in both companies, along with unique software products that augment each other`s functionality."
The inclusion of PreWorX technology will allow Brainware customers to install and configure a Windows NT/2000/XP operating system and associated applications in a fully unattended fashion, without having to visit the target PC. The same applies to upgrades and recovery of PCs with corrupted operating systems. Any user`s PC can be upgraded or have an operating system installed from scratch remotely over a network, without requiring the user or technical staff to be present at the PC.
"Apart from similarities in the structure and focus of the two companies and their products, the Brainware deal will make it easier for PreWorX technology to gain a foothold in Europe," adds Taylor. "Columbus is the only European-developed and -owned product competing in the management market and it already has the trust of large corporations due to its 15 years of operation in the EU."
Projections for the next financial year show an expected 50 000 additional desktops will be running Brainware`s management software with integrated PreWorX technology in Switzerland and Germany. Furthermore, the two companies expect an increased growth rate once the software is better known in the German market.
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