HP To Ship PCs Loaded With OpenView Agent

Starting next month, HP will load OpenView Client Configuration Manager agents onto all commercial HP laptops, desktops and workstations, said Bob Meyer, marketing manager for OpenView Client Configuration at the Palo Alto, Calif., IT giant.

Competing with client management products from Altiris and LANDesk, OpenView Client Configuration Manager, launched last month, is targeted primarily at seat counts of around 2,000 to 5,000, according to Meyer. Unlike the full-blown OpenView product, OpenView Client Configuration Manager is simple enough for use by companies with networks managed by one administrator, he said.

By loading PCs with OpenView Client Configuration Manager agents, HP aims to influence VARs' client-management product recommendations to customers. Improvements to OpenView Client Configuration Manager also should help keep current customers on the platform and dissuade them from possibly adding management clients from another vendor, Meyer said.

As for HP clients already in the field, "customers can easily download the OpenView agents to connect with Configuration Manager," he said.

The latest iteration of OpenView Client Configuration Manager, version 2.0, extends the product's hardware and software management features to HP thin clients, Meyer said. It also leverages Intel's Active Management Technology (AMT), which gives OpenView an out-of-band means of rebooting and controlling clients, even when the operating system has crashed, he said.

OpenView Client Configuration Manager 2.0 Premium Edition costs $75 per seat license, according to HP.

Just over a year ago, HP rival Lenovo inked a desktop management software deal with LANDesk. The nonexclusive arrangement calls for LANDesk Management Suite to be integrated with Lenovo's ThinkVantage Technology, said Dave Taylor, vice president of worldwide marketing at LANDesk, South Jordan, Utah.