Intel Delivers Key Desktop Management Link For Lower PC Support Costs

Desktop Integrator Technology Provides New PC Management Integration Tools to Top Help Desk Companies

HILLSBORO, Ore., Aug. 4, 1997 -- Intel Corporation today announced a new element of its Wired for Management initiative that links desktop management and PC support solutions for a dramatic reduction in the overall costs of business computing. Intel is working with industry-leading help desk software providers to integrate key desktop management tools with help desk consoles. Access to best-in-class tools from the LANDesk product family -- such as PC systems discovery, PC inventory data, PC diagnostics and remote control -- enable help-desk support technicians to solve end-user problems quickly and economically.

With Intel's Desktop Integrator Technology, a software module, help desk software vendors can create a lower-cost PC support model by extending desktop management capabilities to their support solutions. As a result, first-line support analysts can extract critical information from desktops instrumented with management software such as Intel LANDesk Management Suite and currently shipping versions of Novell ManageWise* and Microsoft Systems Management Server*. The help desk administrator can then be more responsive to service requests, while increasing first-call resolution rates, support organization productivity and customer satisfaction.

Intel is working with select help desk software companies such as Vantive, Magic Solutions and Utopia to develop products specific to the implementation of Intel's Desktop Integrator Technology. The integration concepts and key technologies being made available are a result of Intel's efforts with the LANDesk Support Center product.

"The phenomenal progress made in PCs and managed business computing had left the help desk, a critical piece of that networked environment, unaddressed," said Ed Ekstrom, vice president of Intel's Internet and Communications Group and general manager of the Systems Management Division. "Now with Intel's Desktop Integrator Technology and the momentum of the help desk industry behind us, Intel is providing a desktop management link that brings PC support solutions into a company's overall PC management strategy."

Intel's Wired for Management initiative is a broad-based effort to reduce the costs of business PC ownership without sacrificing the power and versatility of high-performance computing.

Integration Trend Evident at Support Services Conference and Expo
Help desk administrators can learn more about how desktop management technologies are dramatically reducing the cost of supporting PCs at the Support Services Conference and Expo, Aug. 4-8 in San Jose, Calif. The conference, sponsored by Help Desk Institute and the Software Support Professionals Association, is the largest educational event for support professionals. Educational opportunities include a State of the Industry panel session including Intel's Ed Ekstrom on Aug. 7 and a "Desktop Management Technologies and the Support Center" session hosted by Terry Dickson, marketing manager for Intel, on Aug. 7. Customers can also visit conference exhibitors such as Vantive, Magic Solutions and Utopia on the show floor for more information and a peek at their proposed implementations of Intel's Desktop Integrator technology.

* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.