Item: KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
Rating: 9
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We've been utilizing the KACE 1000 (Endpoint Systems Management Appliance) for over 5 years to provide support to our customers. We are a manufacturer of postal automation equipment that is driven by machine controllers running Windows. Through the use of the KACE agent running on each of these controllers, we are able to install updates, verify hardware statuses, and monitor performance of these controllers, which allows us to better support our customers scattered around the nation. Before this tool, we had to burn DVDs to send out to customers - now with a few minutes of setup, we can electronically push these updates to our customers and auto-install during their downtime, ensuring the equipment stays up and running while minimizing the impact to our customers.

Pros and Cons

The KACE agent is incredibly easy to install and manage - it only requires an outbound port of TCP 443 from the customer, which is normally open, to allow function.
You are able to push files to the agents via definable locations, or you can push and install files on a schedule or immediately.
It has a separate scripting engine that allows you to write up scripts that perform logical tasks, such as ensuring a file is present before running a command, and remediation logic.

Administrative interface can be slow at times, and does require some decent PC specifications to run adequately.
The cost of the KACE solution can be very expensive depending on how many agents you plan to deploy
There is a learning curve in order to master KACE's capabilities - however Quest does provide lots of resources to dig into. It is not as intuitive as it could be.

Return on Investment

KACE has saved us from having to spend several days of employee hours in crafting DVDs and duplicating them (100+ DVDs)
KACE has saved us on the postage required to send out those DVDs for every update (monthly) to all of our customers electronically

Alternatives Considered

BigFix, LanDesk and PDQ-Deploy

The biggest part to KACE verses these options was the ability to have an agent installed on the endpoint that could communicate back to our primary KACE appliance for updates. As we have customers with different network setups and the machines are never in a direct connect to our facility, we needed an option that allowed the endpoints to facilitate a link back to us, and the agent was the only reasonable method.

Other Software Used

Barracuda Email Security Service, Cylance, Klipfolio

Likelihood to Recommend

The KACE solution really shines for us in the Managed Service Provider arena, as it has allowed us an easy way to maintain support and control over our customer's endpoints.

It is ideal for companies that have to manage a large number of hosts, whether internal only, or a mix of internal and external hosts - it allows segmenting hosts into organizations/groups so software/installations can be kept seperate from accidentally being installed where it shouldn't be.

KACE's true purpose however is for the internal corporation, providing a built-in helpdesk and self-service portal to where employees can go to the portal, select from an available list of programs/tasks and have those programs installed or tasks ran automatically on their computer - whereas their permissions would not normally allow them to run themselves.

KACE 1000 - The MSP's Lifesaver

Overall Satisfaction with KACE Endpoint Systems Management Appliance