source network inventory software

Using the Altiris IT/SAM tools, Little says, “we can see every piece of source network inventory software installed on every computer in the district, and can also know about the hardware—what size drive, processor type, how much RAM, fragmentation, etc.” He says reports generated by Altiris allow the district to demonstrate compliance with software licenses. “And the system provides proactive information, like when there’s some kind of problem, so we can get information to our help desk or work order system before something fails.” In addition to the Altiris suite, Little says, the district has asset tags installed on every computer, “and that tag information is also in the computer’s BIOS, including ‘where it is’ location information.”

Time savings is another advantage of IT/SAM. Tennessee’s Scott County Schools has around 1,200 PCs and 15 servers in six locations—and “an IT department that’s really an administrator, a secretary, and me as the network technician, plus a general-purpose technician full time,” says Greg Bond, network administrator. “That’s a lot of machines to keep up with. Our farthest school is about 30 minutes from our central office; it would take someone a full day per site to do a simple physical inventory. We needed a package that would let us get a good count of machines and keep track of licensing, to be sure we were legally compliant.”