MICROSOFT and computer services firm COL announced last week that they will join forces to provide new remote network management and support services which the companies claim are the first of their type in the region - and possibly the world.
With the new Watchman desktop management solution, COL staff can remotely monitor and manage a customer's network, identify potential problems and take corrective action using a new Windows NT package from Microsoft, Systems Management Server (SMS).
SMS can create and maintain hardware and software inventories across a network and can support software distribution and support, all from a remote location, as well as providing remote help desk functionality so that help desk personnel can take over a PC workstation to help diagnose and solve problems.
SMS is an open systems product which, while it runs on an NT-based server can support Novell networks and clients running most desktop operating systems, including Windows, DOS and OS/2.
According to Kevin Taylor, ICL's outsourcing manager, PC-based LANs are the fastest-growing segment of the IT industry which has resulted in increasing demands for network management. This is fuelling a need to outsource network management instead of the personnel-intensive investments companies presently make to manage their LANs.
'PC-LANs are the fastest growing sector in the IT industry and companies throughout Asia are installing them from scratch or implementing them as part of downsizing programmes,' he said.