Dell Launches Kace Appliances For Midsize Firms

PC giant Dell has announced the availability of its new K-Series Advanced line of appliances aimed at midsize businesses with 1,000 to 3,500 end-point systems.

The K-Series Advanced Appliances include the K1100-ADV for systems management, and the K2100-ADV for systems deployment. The line features quad-core Xeon processors, RAID 5 configuration, high speed drivers and redundant power supplies.

The products are available as both physical and virtual appliances, directly from Dell or through its partners.

Systems Management

In addition to the availability of the K-Series Advanced Appliance line, Dell Kace is also offering a ProSupport package in North America that includes unified 24/5 assistance from Dell’s maintenance and support team. ProSupport allows Kace and Dell customers to reach a support team through a single contact number for all Dell products including desktops, servers, storage and now also Dell Kace Systems Management Appliances.

The ProSupport package will be available internationally by the end of 2011, the company noted in a release.

“The SMB segment can sometimes be a bit of a misnomer because there are significant differences that small and medium-sized businesses face which can impact organisational growth,” said Lubos Parobek, vice president of product management, for Dell Kace. “Our new K-Series Advanced Appliance line enables medium business to accelerate their growth path without the need to upgrade systems or compromise the quality of systems management technology, enabling companies to effectively improve IT service levels and end-user productivity.”

Dell Kace’s customer base has grown from 1,200 to more than 4,600 in the past year in a variety of industries such as retail, education, government, financial services, manufacturing, legal, health care and others.

The Kace K Series of Systems Management Appliances and a dedicated website are now available in four new countries including Germany, France, China and Japan, and the company plans continued expansion of its international footprint by localising its solutions in additional countries within Europe and Latin America throughout 2012.

Market Challenges

“The acquisition of Kace by Dell has significantly elevated the business unit and continues to be an exciting company to watch in the systems management space because of its ability to meet new market challenges and turn them into advantages over its competitors,” said Steve Brasen, managing research director for Enterprise Management Associates. “Although Dell Kace has focused its aggressive pricing structure and appliance-based approach to systems management primarily towards small and medium-sized organisations, our analysis reveals the product is set to be a leading contender in the enterprise space as well.”

Rob Meinhardt, general manager and co-founder of Dell Kace, said he’s always felt that a partnership with Dell would accelerate their growth. “What’s been terrific to see is that we’ve been able to achieve remarkable growth while remaining true to our roots of simplifying systems management for organisations to save customers time and money,” he said. “Together with Dell, we have been able to not only grow our customer base and successfully enter new markets, but also be part of Dell’s exciting transition to offering technology solutions to customers around the world.”