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KBOX Future
Version 2.0 is on its way and I had an opportunity to get a look at some of the cool new features being included. Patch management is a key new feature, where security patches from Microsoft may be reviewed and easily downloaded to the KBOX for deployment. Another interesting benefit to look forward to is its new Policy/Job feature. It allows you to check for something and specify an action to take if the condition is (or is not) met. This provides a rather simple way to write what would otherwise be a rather complex script (not only to write, but to conditionally initiate). Remote control integration is being added so that you can easily use Remote Desktop (or another specified remote control solution such as VNC) to manage the clients listed in the KBOX. And last but certainly not least, version 2.0 addresses remote client installation by offering a command line tool called KBOXadmin which will scan the network and attempt installation remotely using WMI.

Conclusion
I started by stating KBOX is aimed at small to mid-sized organizations, but they reportedly have customers with as many as six to seven thousand clients! KBOX is a powerful and easy to use system that addresses key desktop management areas. Server-initiated deployment of the client software is the biggest missing feature that stands out here- and it is an issue that can be overcome rather easily by most organizations. A drawback of many competing solutions is in their installation and configuration which is virtually eliminated by the KBOX appliance solution. Next, having to maintain a database, server operating system, etc. is also not an issue here. All this does not come at the expense of a powerful feature set.

There really is not sufficient room here to go into all the features offered and how customizable some of these features are. If this sounds like something you are interested in, I encourage you to schedule a demo of your own where you can see it first hand and ask questions that relate to your desired implementation.

Bob Kelly
7/28/05

 

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