News
Field Report: TechMentor 2004 New Orleans
</i>MCP Magazine<i>'s TechMentor lured hundreds of Windows IT professionals to the bayou for five days of in-depth learning, product demos, networking, and plenty of fancy eating.
(New Orleans) MCP Magazine's TechMentor lured hundreds of Windows
IT professionals to the bayou for five days of in-depth learning, product
demos, networking, and plenty of fancy eating.
The TechMentor exhibit hall was packed Tuesday night with attendees enjoying
New Orleans' libations, fresh seafood, and hot new products.
Symantec (http://www.symantec.com/),
which recently acquired PowerQuest
(http://www.powerquest.com/),
was busy promoting PowerQuest's V2i Protector 2.0, Desktop Edition, its
latest data protection tool. The vendor claims that a one-step disk imaging
process can backup all relevant PC or laptop files and its configuration.
Symantec touted another acquisition, pitching the latest from ON
Technology (http://www.on.com/).
ON's iCommand infrastructure management suite includes an end-user web
portal for items such as corporate procedures, a portal that helps administrators
respond to problems, and agents to management network components.
ThinPrint (http://www.thinprint.com/)
roused some attention with its Content Beamer, an innovative approach
to mobile device data access and printing. Content Beamer allows mobile
devices to display a variety of data types, including e-mail attachments,
and compresses the files to reduce networking bandwidth and ease printing.
Filtering Tech
WebSense (http://www.websense.com/)
is continuing to keep our networks clean and pure. Websense Enterprise
filtering software can block inappropriate content, streaming media, and
even peer to peer networking tools. A new tool, Websense Enterprise IM
Attachment Manager, can restrict attachments sent via IM, which often
bypass existing safeguards.
Like Websense, SurfControl
(http://www.surfcontrol.com/)had
a range of filtering tools, including Instant Message Filter, which can
determine which employees can have IM access. For instance, a CEO could
be given full access, while the guys in the mailroom are shut off.
Package and Install
OnDemand Software (http://www.ondemandsoftware.com/)
showed off WinInstall 8, the latest rev of its ten-year old software packaging
and deployment system boasting integration of MSI packaging, distribution,
inventory, client reset and patch management.
Wise Solutions (http://www.wise.com/),
recently acquired by Altiris, was on hand with the popular Wise Package
Studio, which includes conflict testing, release management, and of course,
packaging.
New Boundary (http://www.newboundary.com/)
made its packaging pitch with Prism, a tool that can customize apps for
different deployment scenarios. The company also showed off Prism Patch
Manager with automated patch tracking.
InstallShield (http://www.InstallShield.com/)
rounded out the packaging booths, and showed off its InstallShield Update
Service, AdminStudio for packaging, and InstallShield AMS for application
management.
Look for a roundup of packaging tools in an upcoming issue of MCP
Magazine.
Training Day
Looking for training, but have no bread? IT Skills Loan was on
hand to lend IT pros the money to get that career boosting certification.
Check 'em out at www.itloan.com.
And right next door just happened to be The
Training Camp (http://www.trainingcamp.net/),
a broad based training company with new courses such as a seven-day CISSP
security training camp, and a wide range of Microsoft courses.
Global Knowledge (http://www.globalknowledge.com/)
had a smorgasbord of tasty training treats on hand, covering everything
from Windows Server 2003 to Group Policy and Active Directory specific
courses.
Transcender (http://transcender.com/)
had its own array of training offerings, including some developer centric
courses such as C#, and some hardcore server and SQL offerings.
The book folks were in full force, and had celebrity authors such as
our own Don Jones signing their latest. Que
(http://www.quepublishing.com/)
had dozens of titles on display, including its popular Exam Cram 2
series.
Patch it and forget it
Patching mavens may want to take a peak at PatchLink
Corp.'s PatchLink 6 (http://www.patchlink.com),
an upgrade that can discover security holes based on unauthorized services
and systems that are not in line with corporate policies.
ScriptLogic (http://www.scriptlogic.com)
was kept busy doing demo after demo of Desktop Authority, a tool that
gives administrators fine control over users and resources. It includes
remote control, drive mapping, folder redirection, printer deployment,
security policies, and much more.
The scripting world was also well represented by SAPIEN
Technologies (http://www.sapien.com),
with its new PrimalScript 3.1, a script editing and automation tool.
Winternals (http://www.winternals.com)
touted a full line of Windows tools, including Administrator's Pak (repairs
disks, imports/exports registry files, and recovers deleted files), Defrag
Manager, Recovery Manager, and Insight for Active Directory that can resolve
AD issues and related failures.
Raxco Software (http://www.raxco.com)
is making a run at the disk defrag market with PerfectDisk, a tool that
integrates with Active Directory, easing the deployment of the software.
Software Pursuits (http://softwarepursuits.com/)
had a full range of products on display, including SureSync for file synchronization
and replication, BootBack for system recovery, and ArchivedSync for tapeless
backup and recovery.
TNT Software (http://www.tntsoftware.com/)
had its ELM Performance Manager (automates monitoring and managing of
servers and PCs), and ELM Log Manager which helps make sense of reams
of log data.
About the Author
Doug Barney is editor in chief of Redmond magazine and the VP, editorial director of Redmond Media Group.