Free net monitoring tool gets a makeover

Network World - Spiceworks on Tuesday introduced an updated version of its free IT Desktop application that now includes features that lets customers track outsourced services, more easily navigate data on managed devices and view the history of IT services via a feature similar to a social networking news feed.

Spiceworks IT Desktop 3.0 includes a software-as-a-service inventory management feature that the company said will help its small to midsize customers better track the SaaS services they use. The software will track items such as service costs, related contract dates, help desk tickets, outages, documents and other data relevant to the outsourced services that can range from technologies such as online backup or e-mail hosting. The vendor showcased IT Desktop 3.0 at Software 2008, which is collocated with Interop Las Vegas.

"This release gives managers the ability to track the SaaS services they consume and also start to compare how well the services perform, what they pay for the services and how well the SLAs are met," said Spiceworks CEO Scott Abel, who previously co-founded management automation software company Motive Inc.

Spiceworks IT Desktop is available free for download and is designed to manage networks with as many as 250 devices. The software runs on an IT manager's workstation and inventories systems, clients and other IP-based devices through agentless discovery methods using open protocols such as Windows Management Instrumentation and Secure Shell. The application can provide inventory data, monitor the health and status of managed devices, and enable IT managers to keep an eye on their distributed assets at no cost to the user -- with one caveat.

Spiceworks users must be willing to tolerate adware in the management console. By partnering with Google AdSense, Spiceworks is able to garner revenue from clickable ads featured in the console and offer its software free to users. Company executives said the number of downloads proves the company's business model resonates with IT managers. To date, Spiceworks has logged 325,000 registered users of this application; the company doesn't consider unregistered downloads in its total number of registered users.

This release also includes an updated user interface feature, dubbed Network Glide, which allows IT managers to flip through and view network devices, applications and services more quickly. An IT services activity feed will let IT managers see the history of services in an activity stream similar to a social networking application news feed. IT managers can also use Version 3.0 to create reports and share them with peers in the Spiceworks community. This version also introduces support for Microsoft Exchange and Active Directory.

"This is the tenth release of IT Desktop and we plan to continue to mature the product to capture everything our users need to monitor IT services," Abel said.

Spiceworks IT Desktop 3.0 is in beta now, and the company said it should be ready to ship by the end of May.