SilverBack Rolls Out Portable Monitoring Device For Partners

The network, systems, application and security monitoring software vendor has developed a portable offering to meet its partners' demands for an on-site auditing tool.

Solution providers can use SilverBack Portable, which starts at $6,500 and has SilverBack's monitoring software embedded on it, to perform on-site security audits and IT performance evaluations.

Bob Feehery, vice president of technology at IDC, said the King of Prussia, Pa.-based consulting firm is using the device as an upsell tool as well as a proof-of-concept tool for its business continuity and IT infrastructure management services.

It is also proving to be a foot in the door for IDC. "One of the issues that we are always faced with is resistance to us connecting to the customers via a VPN," Feehery said. "This product lets us connect on-site and give proof of concept without the difficult sales cycle of getting a VPN set up."

By being on-site, IDC's engineers can make recommendations on the spot based on performance levels measured by the portable device, which in turn leads to new sales, Feehery said.

SilverBack found that 80 percent of its partners routinely perform audits but wanted a portable tool that would help create leads for other services they offer, said Debbie MacCallum, co-founder and vice president of Billerica, Mass.-based SilverBack.

"With one tool, our partners can now hand their customers security and performance reports with a wealth of information just by having that portable device on-site collecting data on disk space, intrusions, you name it," MacCallum said.

Also this week, SilverBack plans to unveil a patch management tool for Microsoft software upgrades. The service automates the identification, prioritization and mitigation of patch vulnerabilities for the Windows OS and applications.

Other security monitoring tools being introduced this week by SilverBack include vulnerability scanning for viruses, Windows intrusion monitoring, firewall monitoring, operating-system tracking and reporting, and antivirus alerting.