The Forrester Wave™: Client Management Suites, Q3 2007

Client management suites help IT with PC life-cycle management with tools that automate operating systems (OS) deployment, software distribution, and systems management and provide visibility into the state of each corporate-owned PC. Forrester's product-based evaluation of eight leading client management solutions across 98 criteria revealed that HP, Altiris (now part of Symantec), and CA have established client management suite leadership — thanks to their integrated solutions and strong focus on policy-driven management. LANDesk, an Avocent company, offers one of the strongest offerings, with full management and security functionality, but it's the smallest vendor in the evaluation and will have a hard time competing with much larger competitors in the long term. Novell and Microsoft offer solid capabilities today, but it is their vision of integrated security and management that is worth waiting for. IBM and BMC Software are both Strong Performers but lack some of the more basic support and popular features that users have come to expect from their client management vendor.