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Vector Networks' flagship IT Asset Management suite eases Windows 7 roll-outs

September 7th, 2010 — Atlanta, Montreal, and Birmingham (UK) — Vector Networks, a leader in IT asset and service management solutions, today announced Vector Asset Manager Pro v5.8 with full support for Windows 7.

Asset Manager Pro is known for its comprehensive industry-leading features including Asset Discovery, Inventory and Mapping, License Compliance, Software Usage Monitoring, and Software Requirements Planning. The new version consolidates the support for Windows 7 across all areas of functionality for both the client agent and for the management console. In particular, the drill-down analysis of combinations of PC characteristics such as memory, free disk space and CPU speed facilitates planning for Windows 7 and identifying any machines needing upgrade or retirement.

V5.8 also provides enhanced throughput for the collation of the rich software usage data. This function is being increasingly adopted at Vector's larger installations as it provides the data to drive software license optimization and cost saving.

In the Software Identification Manager, the heart of the AM Pro's software inventory function, identification rules can now accommodate multiple root folder file detection. This new flexibility increases granularity of identification for some applications - for example in successfully distinguishing registered and unregistered copies of WinZip.

"As organizations have become more aware of the issues of software license compliance, we heard frequent complaints about how the user population was regarding WinZip as a utility they could 'borrow' or otherwise obtain and load on their PCs", said Kevin Kiley, VP Sales and Business Development for Vector Networks. "This places the organization immediately in a position of non-compliance, and nobody wants either the punitive costs or embarrassment of being caught non-compliant. This was a simple challenge which required a sophisticated solution and we believe we are among the few to offer this depth of analysis. Having the Web-based inventory client was also critical to identifying when this was happening on all the remote laptops which only ever connect to the 'net."

For Erick Yanez, Vector Network's Montreal-based VP of Development, support for the new volume license keying Microsoft introduced in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 has been a key delivery in v5.8. "We appreciate that Microsoft are particularly keen to protect these keys from being abused, and it is equally important that our asset management solutions can identify them sufficiently to enable organizations to correlate the keys found in their network with their license documentation and entitlement."

The new v5.8 Asset Management Client is merged with the software distribution client announced in the parallel release of Configuration Manager Pro v5.8. This complementary solution gives users the ability to distribute everything, from driver and OS updates to entire application suites, to any selection of PCs in their network, and with support for all versions of Windows from Windows 2000 up to Windows 7.

Full 'What's New' details of the v5.8 release are available as a downloadable PDF at www.vector-networks.com.

About Vector Networks

Based in Atlanta, Vector Networks specializes in solutions for desktop asset and service management, issue tracking, and business process automation. Its PC-Duo brand is synonymous with high-quality enterprise-grade remote control. Vector Networks solutions have been installed and supported in over 20 countries since the company's formation seventeen years ago. With development based in Montreal and a highly mobile sales and support team, the company understands the needs and challenges of multi-site organizations.

Vector Networks also specializes in providing solutions which integrate RFID-based location tracking with IT asset management, effectively forming a bridge between asset security and asset management functions. For further information, visit www.vector-networks.com, or contact the company at solutions@vector-networks.com.

Media Contact:
Colin Bartram
Ph: +1 678 391 3760 (US office)
Ph: +44 7726 237606 (UK cell)