Beta customers report quick deployment and ease-of-use as top level benefits

ROUND ROCK, Texas, July 14, 2011 -- Today, Dell KACE announced an innovative new line of systems management solutions developed specifically for small businesses. Applying its established technology to a new market segment, Dell KACE's latest desktop management product eases the repetitive tasks small business IT departments deal with every day, giving them the freedom to focus on more strategic projects.

Dell KACE's new line of appliances offers small business IT managers an easy, cost-effective and reliable solution for routine IT tasks such as: hardware and software inventory, software license compliance and asset tracking and management. In addition, it gives them increased visibility into their IT network, enabling them to proactively address configuration issues before they undermine security. With a strong focus on ease-of-use, the new appliance is a true "plug-and-play" solution that virtually eliminates the repetitive and time-consuming tasks of software and hardware inventory management.

"I'm excited about the M300 for two reasons. First, it represents the first in a family of new systems management appliances designed specifically for the needs of companies with 50 to 200 computers - and that's never been done before. And, second, our beta customers are telling us that this is a breakthrough product for them. These asset and license management features are - for the first time - immediately accessible to IT generalists in very small organizations," said Rob Meinhardt, general manager of Dell KACE.

For about the price of a laptop computer, the new appliance gives IT administrators visibility into the exact state of their computers, servers and peripheral equipment. Dell KACE designed the Dell KACE M300 Asset Management Appliance with these top small business IT benefits in mind:

Save time and empower productivity - The M300 dashboard allows users to easily check alerts, software license compliance status, recent activity on the network and pending tasks with a quick glance.

Save money - The M300 helps minimize end user downtime with its PC inventory and software license management solution. It also enables customers to fully utilize PC hardware and software assets rather than making unnecessary new purchases.

Ease-of-use - The M300 appliance provides "plug-and-play" deployment—simply plug it in, connect it to the network, and it discovers, maps, and inventories network assets.

Improve service levels - Upon installation, the M300 manages many repetitive tasks associated with IT inventory, thereby allowing IT managers to focus on more strategic issues and projects.

Avoid network security problems - The M300 provides an accurate inventory of assets that companies can use to enforce PC configuration policies to help identify and prevent rogue software from opening security holes.

Recent Dell ACCELEREV corporate research with SMB customers revealed businesses falling within the 50-200-employee range are still using time-intensive methods for tracking hardware and software inventory as well as managing software license compliance. Fifty percent of IT managers interviewed still use spreadsheets to manually track IT assets. The Dell KACE M300 Asset Management continuously monitors software, offering IT personnel the freedom to spend more time on strategic projects and providing a higher level of service to users.

"Prior to deploying the Dell KACE M300 Asset Management Appliance, we spent a significant amount of time manually tracking license compliance. In total, we had three different ‘point solutions' to watch over our entire asset tracking process," said Danny Daniels, IS manager for the city of Menlo Park, Calif. "We brought in the M300 and literally deployed it in under ten minutes -- it's a true 'plug-and-play' product. The Dell KACE appliance can perform multiple asset management-related tasks and because it's so simple to use and so effective, team time has been freed up to focus on other strategic IT projects."

The Dell KACE family of systems management and deployment appliances fulfill the systems management needs for organizations of all sizes, from initial computer deployment to ongoing management and retirement. Dell KACE products are available as both physical and virtual appliances, directly from Dell or through its partners.

Available today, the Dell KACE M300 Asset Management Appliance is priced at $2498, with a one year warranty and recommended maximum of 200 nodes. To learn more about this new appliance designed specifically for small businesses, join Dell KACE's free "Effective IT Inventory and Asset Management for Small Organizations: From Quagmire to Quick Fix" webinar on July 21 at 10:00 AM Pacific/1:00 PM Eastern. 

About Dell

Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) creates, enhances and integrates technology and services customers count on to provide them reliable, long-term value. Dell provides system-management solutions for customers of all sizes and system complexity. The award-winning Dell KACE family of appliances delivers easy-to-use, comprehensive, and affordable systems management capabilities. Follow the conversation at http://twitter.com/DellKACE.