Outlook Series | Dell Buys KACE

Dell Buys KACE

February 15, 2010

Dell has agreed to acquire KACE, a systems management appliance company with solutions tailored to the requirements of midsized businesses and public (government, education and healthcare) institutions.

Terms were not disclosed.

“We talk directly to thousands of these customers and they tell us they need systems-management tools geared for their environment,” said Steve Felice, President, Dell Consumer and Small and Medium Business (CSMB). “The KBOX family of appliances is highly capable, quick to deploy, simple to use and provides a rapid return on investment, exactly the sort of best-value solutions we’re delivering to customers.”

KACE, headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., provides solutions through the KBOX systems-management and deployment appliances which carry a wide range of capabilities, including:

Device discovery, system inventory, and asset management;
Configuration management, including operating system deployment, power management software distribution, application virtualization and scripting;
System Deployment, Imaging and Windows 7 Migration;
End-point security via patch management, security-policy enforcement and vulnerability scanning; and,
Service management through integrated service desk, user portal and alerting.

Such appliances are suited for midsized operations that typically are staffed by IT generalists. Most KACE customers report having deployed their KBOX appliances in a week or less, and almost two-thirds said that the products paid for themselves in less than three months.

KBOX appliances support heterogeneous operating systems including Windows, Mac and Linux, and deliver system management capabilities such as integrated application virtualization. KACE products are available as both physical and virtual appliances, directly from Dell or through Dell and KACE partners.