December 2005

NetworkD is the Global Leader in Desktop Systems Management and Help Desk Solutions. We focus on solutions that take the best of ITIL, operational best practices and the most effective technologies in the market today to drive value, lower cost and enhance the customer experience in utilizing IT services.


Service Desk Incident and Change Management Categorization Best Practices
Appropriate and well thought out case categorization schemas are a fundamental requirement of any well-run Service Desk, although many organizations struggle with their approach because the end result of the categorization is not well understood. Most major systems on the market today provide categorization techniques and structure hierarchy out-of-box; however the system itself cannot define the data that goes into it and the detail that must be reported to support effective assignment, resolution, change and problem management. This requires definition and understanding from a business perspective prior to implementation and is one of the most underestimated tasks in a service desk implementation or process improvement effort.

When beginning a new case (incident, ticket, service request, or whichever name you use) classification structure, typically called categorization, there are important decisions that must be made upfront to ensure adoption and proper use. Entire article can be found here.


LANDesk a 2006 SC Magazine Awards Finalist
LANDesk® Security Suite has been named as one of the 2006 SC Reader Trust Technology Award finalists in the category for Best Security Management Tool. The SC Awards are one of the world’s leading awards programs for the information security industry. More than 1,300 product and service nominations from more than 330 competing companies globally were received this year. The SC Awards program spans the US, Asia, and the UK. The SC Awards are composed of: the Reader Trust Technology Awards (voted on by SC readers in each region) and the SC Awards Council (a group of carefully selected senior CSOs), along with the Professional Awards that are judged by a panel of the industry’s top talents.

Rootkits and Spyware
Imagine the almost unimaginable: an end user pops a CD into his/her enterprise laptop to enjoy some music and inadvertently loads a Trojan-like rootkit onto the system. The rootkit is virtually undetectable and its installation is transparent to the user. Your enterprise system now has what amounts to spyware installed on it. What's more, malicious threats, including viruses and Trojans, can use the rootkit technology to hide on and seriously harm the Windows-based system as well as spread to other enterprise systems.

Sounds like a horror movie, but it's reality and was made possible when Sony BMG used a DRM (digital rights management) rootkit based on XCP technology in an attempt to protect some of its music CDs from being copied by users. Problem was, Sony's tactic didn't protect listeners' systems from ending up with what amounts to spyware and vulnerability to malicious threats. Read entire article here.

More information on LANDesk Security Suite including a free trial download can be found here.

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2005 Was an Ugly Year for Security; 2006 Won't Be Any Prettier
The security stories and problems that sparked them came so thick and fast during 2005 that it was hard to keep track of the source of the threats, let alone how serious each was.

Financial-account managers lost information on hundreds of thousands of customers to hackers who have stopped picking at random targets and started picking the most profitable victims. Entire article can be found here.

Thought about upgrading to LANDesk® Management Suite 8.6, but haven't yet? Have you considered the new technologies and features available with LANDesk® Management Suite 8.6 compared to your current version?

See how your current version of LANDesk® Management Suite compares to LANDesk® Management Suite 8.6 in the Reasons to Upgrade matrix.

Big additions such as LANDesk® Management Gateway, LANDesk® Trusted Access™ technology and Intel AMT support are just some of the advantages of a newer version. Additional features include:

  • A newer report designer tool with integration of active reports and the ability to schedule and generate reports in HTML, PDF, DOC, RTF or XLS formats
  • Local accounts management
  • Improved keyboard mapping, remote screen blanking and remote control to older agents from the Web console
  • Greater inventory detail and SMBIOS 2.1+ support Package chaining capabilities
  • Improved support for Linux RPM and improved targeting and automatic resolution of duplicates
    LANDesk® updates access
  • The ability to add on LANDesk® Security Suite, LANDesk® Patch Manager and LANDesk® Asset Manager for even more functionality

Start Taking Advantage of LANDesk® v8.6 in 5 Days With NetworkD Rapid Update™
Rapid Update™ is a highly focused service offering that has been created for NetworkD® clients to upgrade their LANDesk® infrastructure to v8.6.

This offering includes five technical
consulting days.

More information about Rapid Update™ can be found here. A Quick Quote on this service is also available.

Tips and Tricks

LANDesk Tip: Adding Visibility to Your OSD Script Driver Injection
When using HII (Hardware Independent Images) for your OS deployment needs, one of the critical success factors is a functional driver repository that must be injected after an OS image is restored.
Details

HEAT Tip: Running Typical Support Programs Through HEAT
The following is a list of support programs and utilities that are typically used by Helpdesks to help resolve issues. All can run from HEAT using fields in HEAT to populate program arguments. Details

Upcoming Events


Winter HEAT®, and LANDesk® Training Schedule Now Available
Take a look at our Winter 2006 training schedule which includes beginner and advanced courses. If you do not see a date or location relevant to you, private training is also available. Click here for more information US, UK, Germany, and France.

Tradeshows and Conferences
If you are interested in attending one of the conferences or tradeshows below, let us know! We may have free expo passes for you and your team. We are also available for scheduled consultations. Contact us today.


February 12-16, 2006
San Diego, CA
Visit us at booth #5613


March 19-21, 2006
Nashville, TN
Visit us at booth #318

Speaking Engagement: Session 802
IT Service Desk Standardization: Path to IT Compliance Improvement with Karen Benitez Wednesday, March 22, 10-11am

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