Drive Down IT Costs and Boost Enterprise Productivity with Automated Software Management
The current competitive and economic landscapes have most organizations seeking ways to improve their IT operations and their bottom lines. Software distribution and management has become increasingly complex, as schools, hospitals, and businesses alike face mounting requests for sophisticated applications. And those requests are straining both budgets and help desks.
But there’s good news. With the LANDesk® LaunchPad feature, included in the service pack (SP2) release of LANDesk® Management Suite 8.8 from Avocent, you can easily distribute and update applications to users across your networks—alleviating the ongoing pain of daily software administration. Efficient application distribution not only reduces the demands on your IT personnel, but also boosts the productivity of end users.
Automate Software Requests on the Back-End and Enjoy a Centralized Location for Application Installs and Execution
As a LANDesk® Management Suite customer, you’ve had the ability to distribute numerous software packages to multiple users in a single operation without dedicated hardware; and to control software availability with policy-based distribution. But now, with the release of SP2 for version 8.8, you gain greater ability to automate software requests on the back-end while enjoying a convenient centralized location for application installs and execution.
Experience Efficient Application Management
IT administrators devote too much time dealing with software requests and related issues. From initial installations to updates, and from misplaced icons to configuration missteps, help desks are overwhelmed and looking to simplify and speed the software management process. With the LANDesk® LaunchPad, you can get out in front of your workload through centralized configuration and application control.
Instead of traveling from one computer to the next to install or troubleshoot applications, you can perform the distribution of, and access to, software through the LaunchPad. Applications can be configured to install from the LaunchPad window, desktop, or Start menu. End users only see applications configured for their use by qualified IT administrators.
What’s more, applications can be designated for individuals, groups, or the entire enterprise—allowing you to implement standardized computing environments. Plus an embedded process control lets you configure software that requires an installation approval. Deploying to a single user or to an entire network is a breeze.
Simplify Software Access
Installing or launching an application from the LaunchPad window (shown below) requires nothing more than a double-click with a mouse. Users are presented with preconfigured applications that can be installed on demand, and those applications remain the same regardless of where users log onto the network. Employees who use several workstations, such as nurses, no longer have to search for icons or links that may or may not be available.
Because employees always have a consistent set of applications at their fingertips, productivity increases while help desk calls decrease. Within the LaunchPad window, end users enjoy a centralized location for application execution and are detached from the installation process. All available applications are found in the LaunchPad and will start with a simple double-click. Application icons cannot be misplaced, configuration issues disappear, and help desk phones stop ringing.
Distribution Options Offer You Control
The LANDesk LaunchPad provides you with a second option for delivering software to end users. Traditionally, applications have been pushed to end users and installed on their hard drives without their involvement. With the LaunchPad, you can publish application icons to users without an automatic or required installation. End users choose whether or not to access the preconfigured application, and the LaunchPad window is populated with a set of preferred programs unique to each user. Subsequent changes made by IT personnel to the software configuration are distributed to all users or groups.
An Integrated and Versatile Solution
LANDesk® Process Manager technology is the underlying component of the LaunchPad that manages the request, approval, and delivery of applications to end users. However, the integration of the two products is much more powerful than simply managing software requests. LaunchPad links may launch applications, Web URLS, or business processes developed with the LANDesk Process Manager tool. But because of the integration, any business process created by LANDesk Process Manager, including non-software distribution tasks such as requesting vacation leave, can be delivered seamlessly to end users.
Just-in-Time Installations Save Money
It’s no secret that properly managing software licenses can generate significant cost savings. With the just-in-time installation process contained in LANDesk LaunchPad, users enjoy access to software but don’t consume a license until they click on the icon. In other words, software is made available but is not installed until the user clicks the icon the first time. At that point, the LaunchPad invokes a LANDesk software distribution package before the first execution and installs the software without end user involvement.
It’s also a given that not all users access the same applications. Because a person’s LaunchPad profile follows them where ever they go, software is only installed on the nodes that require it. Reduced help desk call volumes and fewer software licenses mean more money for your bottom line.
Key Features and Benefits
The SP2 release of LANDesk Management Suite 8.8 offers these advantages and more:
- Centralized application control—enables you to deliver both physical and virtual applications without manually modifying the installation. Administrators distribute the right shortcuts/software to the right users/groups.
- Just-in-time applications—let you configure software and publish application icons to users without installation. Applications install the first time a user clicks on the icon.
- Process driven deployment—Embedded process control in the LaunchPad, powered by LANDesk® Process Manager technology, gathers the correct approvals, conducts audits and delivers the software package.
- Application types supported include existing LANDesk software distribution packages, executables, Web URLs, and LANDesk processes.
