Symantec Acquires Altiris Software

In April this year, Symantec announced the completion of the acquisition of IT management software company Altiris. Altiris software enables businesses to manage their network-based servers, laptops and desktop PCs, including audit, OS Deployment, software deployment, patch management and user-state migration.

At the same time Symantec announced the end-of-life for certain software products including LiveState Delivery, LiveState Discovery and LiveState Patch Manager, all elements of the LiveState Client Management Suite.

As an existing LiveState Client Management Suite customer, you may be concerned and perhaps a little apprehensive about this recent news from Symantec. Many LiveState customers have been asking “How is this going to affect me?”

I use LiveState Client Management Suite.  What should I do?

Symantec have indicated that LiveState suite will continue to be supported for a further 2 years.  There is no immediate need to move away from LiveState.  You can safely continue to take advantage of your LiveState Client Management infrastructure. 

Symantec will be providing an upgrade path to Altiris Client Management Suite for all customers with maintenance agreements.  There will also be tools and services available to help migrate clients and packages.  Scorpio will be fully involved with this process and will be able to help you take advantage of these services.

The pain of migrating

So you’re thinking, “How much work is involved in migrating to Altiris?” and “What’s the benefit then?”

We know only too well that it is never a simple matter to move from your current version to the latest release of any software.  Many of you have experience of previous migrations from CCM or iCommand to LiveState.   

This is where Scorpio can help.  Our specialist knowledge of both the LiveState suite and Altiris software give us the skills to help ease you through this transition.  There is no question that the merging of these two quality client management suites can only bring benefits to you the end user.  Scorpio can help you to realise those benefits without going through the pain.

When should I migrate?

The main driver for migrating to Altiris will be for Vista support.  Deploying Windows Vista in your organisation requires careful planning.  Many organisations expect to take up to 18 months to plan their Vista deployment.   Why not let Scorpio help you plan for the migration to Altiris at the same time.

You don’t need to wait for Vista though.  If you want to start planning straight away, why not contact Scorpio and we will keep you informed of the latest developments.  Make sure you don’t miss out.

How will customers benefit from moving to Altiris?

Some of the benefits which will be available to LiveState Client Management Suite customers in migrating to Altiris are as follows:

·         Vista Readiness

Full support for deploying Vista and support for 64-bit applications.  Application Compatibility Suite helps find Vista application incompatibilities and offers remediation.  Software Virtualization Solution (SVS) allows applications that are not compatible with Vista to continue to run in an isolated Windows environment. 

·         Integrated Asset Management

Integrated hardware and software inventory management and auditing can be expanded to full CMDB capabilities.  Policy based management of client machines via query based collections.

·         Configuration management and patching

Altiris Patch Management Solution provides improved functionality in the analysis, collection, and distribution of OS and application updates.   Altiris’ advanced configuration management capabilities, will give customers the confidence that their assets are configured and protected appropriately.

·         Application packaging with Wise Package Studio

Wise Package Studio, purchased by Altiris and now part of Symantec, has long been respected as the leading package development suite.  The software packages or repackages applications as a Windows Installer packages.

·         Software Virtualization.

Virtual applications eliminate the possibility of conflicts with other applications and the base operating system.  You can also instantly activate or deactivate them. Wise Package Studio 7 supports creating, editing, and managing packages for virtual applications. These packages enable applications to run in a virtual environment when used with Altiris Software Virtualization Solution.

How Scorpio can help

Scorpio Network Solutions have expert consultants, trained and certified on Altiris software as well as being the UK’s leading experts in LiveState Client Management Suite and Symantec Gold Certified Partners. Rest assured, Scorpio will be keeping abreast of every development and every announcement from Symantec regarding the Altiris integration.

We are perfectly placed to guide you through every step of your transition from LiveState Client Management to Altiris Client Management, helping you avoid the pit-falls and capitalise on the benefits.

If you want to know more, or you just want to be kept informed, contact us now.