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Rolling Review: BigFix Enterprise Suite 7.0.7.96: Page 4 of 4

BigFix is a standout for environments that need advanced bandwidth control. Not only can the BigFix server and clients be configured to use limited bandwidth, but relays are configurable for both upload and download usage. The client setting can even be throttled according to either KB per second or percentage of available bandwidth. A related option allows an action to be distributed over a user-defined number of minutes, to reduce network load. This was the most advanced set of controls we've yet seen in our testing.
As mentioned, BigFix Enterprise Suite has an impressive list of supported operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, SUSE Enterprise Linux, Red Hat and even VMware ESX. Don't get too excited, however: The list of OSes with patch content varies slightly from the roster of operating systems supported by BigFix. In addition, patches are available for a wide array of applications. To keep critical antivirus products up to date, there is a separate "Client Manager for Anti-Virus" repository that includes updates for AV products from Symantec, Sophos, eTrend Micro, McAfee, and eTrust.

Bigfix also offers an easily accessible patch creation feature. Building a new patch requires use of BigFix's language for action scripting, but the utility enables an internally created or customized patch to be treated much the same as one created by BigFix
We liked that BigFix customers can purchase components via a la carte menu pricing. Total list price for our test environment was $20,250. BigFix has one price for monitored Unix and Linux servers, and one price for monitored Windows servers: At a volume of 450, Linux/Unix servers cost $25 each; 600 Windows servers (a mix of real and virtual) run $15 per device. Pricing continues to drop with higher volumes.