NETWORK & SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT Desktop Management Suite: Saber LAN Workstation M ost agree that the cost of ownership of PC networks is too high. Deploying a desktop management suite is one of the most effective ways to reduce the cost. Enter the reigning champ of desktop management suites: McAfee's Saber LAN Workstation. Not only does Saber LAN Workstation provide the basic software and hardware inventorying and license metering features you need, it also provides software distribution and desktop menuing and control, making it a complete and powerful desktop management suite. With support for both Microsoft Windows NT and Novell NetWare, Saber LAN Workstation easily fits into most networks. Information about which software is running and what kind of machines are installed can be invaluable when forecasting the cost of upgrades or deciding if your PCs can run NT. More than 4,300 software titles are in the Saber LAN Workstation library, and custom applications can be added to the list of known applications. Saber LAN Workstation is focused on the enterprise: Inventories can b e rolled up to a central site, letting corporate IT departments run global reports while local network administrators manage their part of the world. Along with capturing software inventory, Saber LAN Workstation collects critical hardware inventory information, including the amount of memory, type, manufacturer and configuration of hard disks and hardware settings on network adapter cards and other installed devices. In addition, it assembles key OS and system information, including user IDs, TCP/IP information and CMOS and BIOS statistics. The inventory module runs on each workstation and can inventory both NT and NetWare servers. This wealth of information is easily viewable via a GUI-reporting interface. Saber L AN Workstation provides an effective software-distribution system because of its ability to integrate software and workstation inventory. This integration allows for workstation software installation based on the workstation's configuration. With Saber LAN Workstation's distributed architecture, software intended for a remote network is sent only once over the WAN. From there, it's distributed to every client. All common client OSes are supported, including DOS, Windows and OS/2. Both 16- and 32-bit applications can be installed, and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) alerting is provided. To reduce the overall cost of distributed computing, Saber LAN Workstation includes a software license metering application. NetWare bindery services and Novell Directory Services (NDS) and NT users and groups are supported, making administration easier. One feature that separates Saber LAN Workstation from the competition is its menuing and desktop control. From a single console, an administrator can con trol any DOS or Windows client's desktop. Saber LAN Workstation also provides a menu for selecting applications. Saber LAN Workstation includes a scripting language and a sophisticated .INI and policy editor. Saber LAN Workstation , $50 per node (100 nodes), $39 per node (1,000 nodes), McAfee, (800) 332-9966, www.mcafee.com Honorable Mentions: Norton Administrator for Networks , $37 to $50 per node, Symantec Corp., (800) 441-7234, www.symantec.com Seagate Desktop Management Suite , $15 to $30 per node, Seagate Software Network & Systems Management Group, (800) 525-5645, www.seagatesoftware.com Awards Table of Contents

Updated April 24, 1997