Kaseya International's new release of its managed services platform features support for Microsoft's Vista operating system and the capability to send alerts to mobile devices.
The new release of Kaseya's IT Managed Service Automation sets the groundwork for development of features the company is planning in anticipation of the evolving needs of managed services customers, said Jim Alves, executive vice president of marketing at the San Francisco-based company.
The platform's new version, officially scheduled for release on Jan. 29, also features multilingual support, which the company is adding with an eye toward accelerating its global expansion. So far the platform supports Spanish and Portuguese users, and the company plans to also add German, Italian, French and Simplified Chinese, Alves said.
Fundamental to the platform's improvements for this release, said Alves, was an expansion of capacity that allows multiple agents to report back to an administrator on the status of the devices that are being monitored. Solution providers use the Kaseya software to remotely monitor the computing environments of their customers.
>"Kaseya has strengthened its agent technology to make it even more scalable to appeal to larger enterprises," said Jeff Kaplan, managing director of research firm ThinkStrategies.
Many of the improvements in the platform's new version, said Alves, happened as a result of feedback from users.
Support for Vista, for instance, is something Kaseya's channel partners have inquired about, he said.
"All of our partners are looking for it because they're involved with Vista, so we have to be ready," said Alves. He said that partners are in the process of testing Microsoft's new operating system to see how it fits into their clients' computing environments.
Solution providers can actually employ Kaseya's capabilities to help customers figure out whether they are ready to migrate to the new operating system. Providers can run a Vista readiness report to identify which machines are ready for the upgrade to Vista, which aren't, and why.
Click here to read about Kaseya's do-it-yourself managed services program.
Microsoft released the business version of Vista at the end of November, but solution providers report they have seen little or no demand for the new operating system. The consumer version is set for a Jan. 29 release.
Chad Gniffke, director at InHouseIT, a Kaseya channel partner in Costa Mesa, Calif., said his company is recommending customers hold off on migrating to Vista because of incompatibilities with third-party applications. But adoption of Vista is inevitable, Gniffke said.
In addition to Vista support, Kaseya also is supporting other 64-bit Microsoft operating systems.
Alves said another feature partners and customers are sure to appreciate is the mobile device alert capability, which the company says allows administrators to handle issues anytime, anywhere.
Administrators receive trouble tickets in their mobile devices, allowing them to update information and respond from the devices.
"It's all about responding quickly to the customer," said Alves. "That's what wins points."
In the future, Alves said Kaseya plans to add features to the platform such as customer billing and contract management. Other features will deal with help desk, product life cycle and asset management, he added.
Gniffke credited Kaseya with acting on partner feedback, saying that whenever InHouseIT has asked for new features or tweaks, the vendor has come through.
"The relationship with Kaseya has been very positive," he said.
Kaplan said enhancements in the new release set Kaseya apart from competitors because of the "ability to address the IT management needs of large-scale enterprises, especially those which are planning to migrate to Vista in the near-term."
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