Top 10 Microsoft-Centric Solutions

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Here's a rundown of 10 Microsoft-centric solutions and how solution providers are benefiting from these technologies:

CA Internet Security Plus Suite 2008
The line of Internet security and desktop management products from CA is designed for home and home-office users. The products defend against online threats, including identity theft, viruses, spyware, spam and phishing. The flagship product, CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2008, incorporates Web site authentication, data backup and PC-to-PC data transfer.

Among the key components are antiphishing software that helps protect against fraudulent and malicious Web sites by issuing warnings when a site is potentially unsafe; data backup and data transfer to protect files, photos, music, and PC settings through backup, restore and transfer options; and integrated parental controls to ensure protection from inappropriate content. The CA products run on Windows 2000 Professional SP4+, Windows XP SP1+, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 SP2 or Windows Vista.

Tiger Direct Inc., Miami, offers the CA Internet Security Suite to its customers via each channel it participates in, including retail through TigerDirect and CompUSA retail stores, on the Internet and via direct mail though catalogs, said Russell Strunk, vice president of marketing. "The suite is beneficial to Tiger/CompUSA because first it attracts customers who require a threat/[antivirus] solution and allows us to meet that need with a top-tier product, and second [because] it's a great upsell to customers who do not realize that [their] AV protection is out of date," Strunk said.

Citrix Application Delivery Infrastructure
The framework from Citrix Systems Inc. supports remote access to Microsoft Windows Essential Business Server. The components of the Citrix Delivery Center include XenApp, XenDesktop, XenServer and NetScaler, all orchestrated by Workflow Studio.

XenApp is a Windows application delivery system that offers both client and server application virtualization. It allows organizations to deliver applications as a service, providing on-demand access to users. XenDesktop is desktop-virtualization software that assembles virtual desktops on-demand, providing users with a personalized desktop each time they log on. XenServer provides server virtualization, enabling organizations to manage servers and related storage and networking resources from a single management console. Finally, NetScaler is a Web-application-delivery appliance that accelerates application performance up to five times by leveraging multiple acceleration technologies.

"We have an entire practice built around the Citrix Delivery Center infrastructure," said Geoff Green, access and systems practice principal at MTM Technologies Inc., a Stamford, Conn.-based solution provider. The company has provided life-cycle management for Presentation Server/XenApp, and as the new Citrix products have come out, MTM has added them to its offering, Green said.

"NetScaler has given us a strong networking appliance that allows us to manage not only remote access to XenApp, but also to manage Web-based applications that used to be managed by 'the Web guys,'" Green said. With the recent addition of XenDesktop, MTM is able to extend centralized computing to clients who were either unable or unwilling to accept a Citrix Published Desktop as a day-to-day workspace, he said.

The Citrix framework allows MTM "to open new markets within the desktop virtualization and networking areas, while extending our existing server virtualization and disaster-recovery practices," Green said. "Our core access practice is also extended by giving us the ability to offer an end-to-end access strategy instead of an accumulation of point solutions."

Kaseya Managed Services Edition
This platform is an integrated IT automation framework designed for MSPs. It manages each client's infrastructure, network components, servers and desktop PCs remotely and transparently. The Kaseya framework allows IT professionals to monitor, manage and maintain a distributed IT infrastructure remotely via an integrated Web-based platform.

MSPs can use the platform to get an integrated view into customers' IT environments and manage their infrastructures.

Kaseya 2008, released in March, is the latest-generation framework of Kaseya's IT automation software. It includes integration of Versora technology for easier management and transfer of user preferences, profiles and settings, and includes an application programming interface that makes it easier for third parties to integrate their software with the Kaseya framework.

Expedient Technology Solutions LLC, an IT services and consulting firm in Germantown, Ohio, uses the full suite of Kaseya products, including patch management, monitoring, asset management, scripting, end-point security and backup disaster-recovery modules.

"It has given us a very stable platform to proactively service our clients, and allowed us to add additional functionality to our service offerings," said Marcus Thompson, director of IT consulting. "We wouldn't have been able to offer such a comprehensive managed services product that is easily managed without Kaseya."

Next: Nortel Network Application Accelerator 510

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