Shavlik Moving Patch Management Support Beyond Windows

With the purchase of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Gibraltar, Shavlik gains access to a cross-platform solution with immediate support for Solaris and Red Hat Linux and with planned support for HP-UX and IBM AIX.

As Microsoft pitches its Systems Management Server 3.0 and planned Software Update Server 2.0 for Windows patch management, Shavlik and other ISVs are distinguishing their solutions with cross-platform support.

St. Paul, Minn.-based Shavlik will initially release the first cross-platform solution to OEM partners and then to resellers shortly after, said Michael Shavlik, president and CEO.

One OEM partner called it a big win. "Customers don't want point solutions that can only be used to manage a single platform,such as Microsoft SUS/SMS for Windows only, Red Hat Network for Red Hat only and Novell ZENworks for eDirectory environments," said Phil Neray, vice president of marketing at ON Technology, Waltham, Mass. "Enterprise customers are looking for single-vendor, single-console solutions for managing their entire environment across multiple platforms."

Shavlik is responding to similar moves by its competitors. In April, Computer Associates International released Unicenter Software Delivery 4.0 with patch management for Windows, Unix and Linux. Ecora last month added Solaris support to its Windows-based Patch Manager. This month, LANDesk unveiled the availability of its enhanced cross-platform solution, Patch Manager 8. And Novadigm this month released an updated version of Radia patch management for Windows, Unix and Linux.

"The ability [of] Shavlik to address multiple platforms will improve their ability to play in the large enterprise market," said Adam Lipson, president and CEO of Network & Security Technologies, Pearl River, N.Y.