http://www.kace.com

Companies of All Sizes Reap Benefits from ITIL, According to New EMA Report Commissioned by KACE

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – December 19, 2007 – KACE(tm), the leading systems management appliance company, today announced the availability of a new white paper that finds ITIL implementations can drive as much IT and business value for medium enterprises as for larger enterprises. Prepared by leading IT analyst firm Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), the paper, entitled "Is ITIL Right for the Mid-Market," focuses on how ITIL processes can be leveraged by medium enterprises in order to improve IT service management (ITSM). The paper also shows the use of systems management tools, such as the KBOX(tm) family of management appliances, are required to fully reap the benefits offered by the ITIL framework.

Despite the trend towards large enterprise implementations, EMA researchers found that ITIL is likely more valuable in medium enterprises than in larger ones. A key reason for this is that mid-sized organizations have smaller IT staffs and also smaller budgets, and simply cannot always add resources to address IT problems. ITIL best practices increase organizational leverage and effectiveness by making each employee more productive, and also by stabilizing the infrastructure through process checks and balances and eliminating chronic, recurring problems. While ITIL includes a huge number of best practices that cover all aspects of IT service management, the key for mid-market organizations is to focus on only those processes that are most relevant to their unique situation.

"The highest performing IT organizations apply a vetted and repeatable set of processes that maximize the performance of their IT services—ITIL is a framework that defines best practices for these processes for organizations to leverage," said Steve Brasen, EMA analyst and author of the Mid-Market ITIL report. "If ITIL is the road to IT management success, then systems management tools are the vehicles that transport businesses on it. Medium-sized businesses have just as great of a need to travel on the road to ITIL success as large enterprises. Solutions, such as KBOX from KACE, will enable a journey towards operational effectiveness, profitability, and gaining control over the IT infrastructure."

Understanding the need to manage complexity within heterogeneous IT environments, KACE offers an appliance-based approach that allows IT administrators to cost-effectively manage a variety of operating systems from the ease of a single management interface. KBOX enables the implementation of ITIL best practices through an integrated set of tools including: CMDB, Help Desk, and policy based configuration management. The KBOX family of appliances fulfills all of the systems management needs of a medium enterprise from initial computer deployment to ongoing management and retirement, allowing IT departments to save considerable time and money.

"We use the ITIL framework, coupled with the KBOX family of appliances, and have experienced a significant increase in efficiencies and effectiveness," said Joann Assawamatiyanont, IT director for Service Group, an insurance and financial services company. "The KBOX has helped us to implement a wide range of ITIL best practices. We found that KBOX provides the ease of use, comprehensive coverage, and affordability most applicable for a mid-sized shop such as ours and has helped us to achieve ITIL success."

To access the EMA "Is ITIL Right for the Mid-Market" white paper, go to: http://www.kace.com/redir/?doc_request=/pdf/index_ema_itil.php

About KACE(tm)

KACE(tm) is the leading systems management appliance company. The award-winning KBOX(tm) family of appliances delivers easy-to-use, comprehensive systems management capabilities. KACE customers usually install in one day at one third the cost of software alternatives.

KACE is headquartered in Mountain View, California. To learn more about KACE and its product offerings, please visit http://www.kace.com or call 1-877-MGMT-DONE.

Editorial contact:

Cathy Wright

Kulesa PR

650.340.1985

cathy@kulesapr.com