www.kace.com Retail price: Starts at $8,900. Special educational pricing is available.
By Ben Grey
The Dell KACE K1000 is a system-management appliance that provides an impressive array of solutions for a technology environment.
Quality and Effectiveness : The K1000 provides inventory, asset management, license compliance, software metering, security assessment, broadcast alerts, and many other management services. It is fairly simple to set up, and the client install for machines that will utilize the service is quick and easy. All the services this appliance offers are nicely executed in practice. The ability to run software-inventory reports on any machine makes overseeing licensing compliance easier. The K1000 can also report software usage through its software metering and thus help administrators make decisions about purchasing and professional development. The appliance provides excellent cross-platform support.
Though the client is fairly lightweight and offers an amazing array of management features, the reviewer noticed that running it on his laptop increased startup and shutdown time, though not enough to be annoying.
Ease of Use: The K1000 system requires an appliance to run on the network, and a client must be installed on the machines. From there the management interface is Web based, so it’s accessible from virtually anywhere. The only challenge is the sheer breadth of services provided, which will take users some time to learn; once they have done so, they will find them easy to navigate and effective.
Creative Use of Technology: The K1000 provides an outstanding management solution and an excellent enduser experience. Solutions for several platforms are found within one environment, and the ability to use the myriad tools from a single interface is highly useful.
Suitability for Use in a School Environment: The K1000 would be an excellent management solution for an educational environment. Though it requires a significant initial investment in terms of cost, Dell maintains that there are ample opportunities for return on investment, such as the energy saved by the power-management tool, the potential decrease in the time required to support users, and the lowered risk of incurring fines associated with outof- license compliance.
Overall Rating
The K1000 is an impressive management utility that offers numerous management services in one solution.
Top Features
¦ Wide array of services provided
¦ Ease of use of the entire system, from setup to the Webbased management interface itself
¦ Overall utility of each service offered
