Sneak Preview of Express Software Manager, Version 9.5
With the start of a new year, I thought I’d provide a sneak preview of the kinds of enhancements you can expect to find in the 2010 release of our software and hardware asset management solution, Express Software Manager. We believe our current and prospective customers will be thrilled with Version 9.5, expected to ship in Q2 of this year. Here’s what’s in the works:
Purchasing Module: The introduction of a purchasing module is the primary focus of this release. For customers already using Express Software Manager, it will transform your ability to track and manage the countless details related to your hardware and software purchases, maintenance contracts, and leases. The module will have an independent Web interface that allows you to enter/import, organize, summarize, and filter on virtually any piece of purchasing data related to your IT assets. Stored data can then be reconciled with inventoried hardware devices and software applications.
These capabilities will be licensed as an add-on module to Express Software Manager. Maintained customers will be grandfathered in at no charge.
Virtualization Reporting: Version 9.5 will provide the capability to view the relationship between a host operating system and guest operating systems created in a virtual environment, allowing you to better manage the software licensing complexities and risks associated with virtualization.
Reporting Enhancements: Additions to Express Software Manager’s existing arsenal of reports will include enhanced summary usage statistics, expenditure tracking, and additional hardware reports. New migration planning filters will allow you to specify system requirement parameters and identify which machines meet (or do not meet) the criteria necessary for technology upgrades and migrations.
Automatic Client Upgrade: Version 9.5 will give you the ability, if desired, to configure the Express Client to automatically upgrade itself when machines check in. This means you no longer need to re-deploy the client when a new version of Express Software Manager is released.
We’ll be conducting a series of public web-based product briefings prior to the release date, so you can get a sneak preview of the new capabilities. If you’re not already an Express Metrix customer, subscribe to this blog to receive further updates regarding the 9.5 release.
Please feel free to submit any questions or feedback as comments below.
I am currently using a customized Microsoft Access Database to track all of the company’s hardware and generate monthly reports for some of our third party maintenance providers.
Will the new version of Express Metrix allow me to link my Access Database to the Express Metrix Database?
Very excited about this release! Our company has been using this product for approximately 6 months and am very anxious to see what the Purchase module will bring. Great Product so far!
@Cameron: Glad to hear you’re excited about the upcoming release… We are too! I’ll ask your account manager, Kami, to reach out to see if you’d like to schedule a live demo of the new product.
@Jeanne: Thanks very much for your question. The new Express Purchasing module will provide the abilities to import data from Microsoft Excel and also export our data to Microsoft Excel and PDF. In addition, we can provide customers with our database structure should they choose to extract data directly from SQL. At this time, there is not a standard API to allow the automated linking of data to another database – but it’s a feature we may consider adding in the future. As I mentioned to Cameron, we’d be happy to set up a time to give you a pre-release tour of the new product.