Software Distribution

Installing software on one computer takes time. Rolling out applications to a multitude of users across an entire organization is a real challenge. Managing ongoing application, security and virus updates can take up so much time and manpower that other tasks are left undone. And every time a new update comes out, the process starts again.

The Complete Solution

Automated Installs Required
Manual software installation gives IT the greatest levels of control, but also takes the most time and requires the most record-keeping. As companies grow, however, automated software distribution becomes the only real answer, especially for companies with more than one location. Effective automation is more than copying files. It’s selecting targets for distributions, scheduling the task, and monitoring task completion. It’s installing the right application to a new user’s computer based on a defined set of user policies.

Maintain Security/Preferred State
Once software is installed, effective automation means maintaining the preferred state for both users and machines. It’s getting virus updates and security patches out to targeted computers fast. It’s keeping applications healthy and up to date—without IT intervention. If automation doesn’t address new installs, ongoing security updates, and application patch management, it’s just another partial answer to a complex problem that will require more of your time to plug the holes in the system.

Infrastructure Impacts
Distributing some software packages requires a huge amount of network bandwidth. If you distribute a 120MB application suite to 100 users, you end up using 12 gigabytes of network bandwidth—enough to choke most networks. Some systems use dedicated servers replicated across the network to create local application availability. That added hardware infrastructure is expensive and requires extensive setup and maintenance—losing much of the time and money saved by moving to an automated system in the first place.

Increased Success Rates
Sometimes software packages don’t reach their targets. Mobile users can be disconnected from the network, some machines might be powered down, and others may crash part way through the process. So you end up redistributing the same package to many of the same users. With even a ten percent failure rate, distributing a single application can take days or weeks. If you’re dealing with thousands of computers, that can stretch out even further.

No Time to Wait
If the application or patch is critical, you have to closely monitor the process to make sure everyone receives it in a timely manner. Asset management tools can help you figure out who didn’t get the package, but you still need to reschedule the job, wait for it to finish, then check it again. In other words, you do the same job twice. And you spend a lot of time supervising the process.

Control the Process
Automation by itself doesn’t really solve the problem. You need to be able to tightly control what happens and when. Whether you’re deploying new applications to many users across the network, distributing patches or updates to only a few targets, or maintaining the preferred state for a single machine, controlled automation can help. The best solution will give you the ability to create a set of standardized application and update packages, tie those packages to a set of directory policies or machine attributes, then let the system automatically install packages to maintain those policies—without massive network impact, infrastructure requirements, or supervision.

With the right tools and processes, IT staff can automate software installation, security and virus patches, and application updates across the enterprise. NetworkD can work with your team to create a software distribution strategy that works. Contact us for a Quick Quote on a customized Software Distribution Solution that solves your business needs.