Products
For any organisation that depends on its IT assets, namely hardware and software, to remain competitive and efficient, it stands to reason that knowing exactly how many desktops it has and specifically which applications are in use, will be of critical importance.
IT assets account for the largest proportion of the overall IT spend, therefore, ensuring they are properly managed and maintained becomes one of the highest priority corporate goals for any organisation where TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) is high on the agenda.
The annual cost of supporting this IT infrastructure can often result in costs spiralling out of control, where the initial purchase price of IT assets pales into insignificance. Understanding leasing arrangements and undertaking proactive asset management ensures compliance with software license agreements and makes budget forecasting more accurate. Knowing how many of your users are using a specific application at any given time will allow for both effective trimming of software budgets and a realistic prediction of future software investment.
Information is key. Without this, decisions on upgrades and the roll-out of new technology will not be taken from an entirely informed position.
Facilitating central management of your enterprise PCs in a secure, coordinated and efficient manner, NetSupport DNA combines powerful Hardware and Software Inventory with Software Distribution, Application and Internet Metering, Web Based ServiceDesk and award winning Remote Control functionality.
Recognising that organisations have differing requirements, NetSupport DNA is available in a modular format,
allowing you to pick and choose only those features that best meet the current needs of your organisation.
"NetSupport DNA is an excellent system management
tool whose manufacturers are clearly listening to their
users. It’s simple to use, the client agent doesn’t seem
to unduly hammer the host PC, and for a multi-faceted
package the price tag is attractive too."
TECH WORLD
"We chose NetSupport for its ease of use and its
power, as well as for the ability to install DNA in other
operating systems such as Linux. Our experience has
been highly positive, especially the treatment from
the sales staff.We can’t comment on tech support, we
haven’t needed it because DNA is so easy to install
and deploy, one of the principal characteristics of the
program.” - David Merino, Head of IT, Unicef
UNICEF
NetSupport DNA provides a range of features to locate and manage PCs and Users within a networked environment. Not only does DNA store key user data (Name, Telephone etc.) but it also provides detailed storage of supporting Asset, Lease and Maintenance data. In addition DNA provides the customer with the ability to customise the data to be gathered and collated from each user. DNA also provides the mechanism to create Dynamic Groups, these are added to the main Company Tree view and can contain PCs from any number of departments. A typical group might be "all PCs with Windows XP and more than 256Mb of Ram".
Other supporting tools include Connection Statistics, Find User, Chat, Message and a powerful Database Query Tool.
NetSupport DNA integrates with Active Directory enabling you to configure the PCs and Users within the DNA Console to mirror their relative position within the Active Directory Container structure. Changes made within the AD structure are automatically reflected within DNA. User Information can also be retrieved from Active Directory.
DISCOVERY
NetSupport DNA will automatically discover all PCs on a LAN or WAN based on an IP range or utilising the existing Windows Network. Once discovered, key PC status & DNA Client status (if installed) is displayed. Using the Discovery Tool, DNA clients can be remotely installed onto clean systems across he Enterprise.
DNA INVENTORY FOR REMOTE COMPUTERS
In order to maintain accurate asset information it is vital that all user hardware & software related data is recorded. Whilst the DNA Server will dynamically retrieve information from those machines that have a Client installed, there will be instances where peripheral equipment, such as routers or remote PCs that are not connected to the network will not be found. To ensure that this information is known, DNA provides you with the tools to add details of 'non-scanned' items manually.
NetSupport DNA features a powerful Hardware Inventory module that presents a wealth of information about a specific PC, from CPU and BIOS to memory, memory slots used and even those available for future expansion. When viewing the Company as a whole or a department, DNA provides quick and easy summaries by category, such as all PCs grouped by OS, CPU type or Memory.
Featuring a detailed summary of all installed programs and applications detected on each PC, NetSupport DNA displays this information for either a selected PC, a department or custom group. Full support for recording, tracking and the management of software licences and maintenance contracts is included.
APPLICATION METERING
NetSupport DNA offers an Application Metering component which reports all applications used on each Windows PC, detailing the time the application was both started and finished and the actual time it was active and in use. Additionally, when the data is viewed at “department” level, summaries by frequency of use or by duration are shown.
ALERTING
DNA’s real-time Alerting facility enables you to identify changes to the gathered data based on predefined conditions. For example, highlighting situations where the total installed copies of an application exceeds the company license limit or where a PCs free disk space has dropped below a certain level.
The Energy Monitor component provides a simple and concise high level summary of potential energy
wastage across an organisation by computer systems that are left powered on out of business hours.
Once implemented, department heads or management can see a high level view of energy usage by
computers across the organisation, see where “out of hours” usage is highest and identify if this is a
result of diligent staff working late or simply systems that have been left switched on overnight.
Like Application Metering, DNA also provides a detailed summary of Internet (or Intranet) activity on each Windows PC. URLs visited, duration on a page and page analysis within a specific URL are all recorded. DNA even provides a quick link to review a specific URL. Internet Metering also provides the Operator with the ability to restrict URL access based on its status of Approved or Restricted and by a flexible time based policy.
REPORTING
NetSupport DNA also offers two "styles" of reporting. On-screen reports are provided with supporting Bar and Pie charts and drill down capabilities on all key summary data. In addition, Print Optimised reports are provided, powered by a Crystal Report engine that offers a full set of management reports.
All reports include the option to print or export to PDF, DOC and XLS.
SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTION
DNA provides a multi delivery option for software distribution. To begin, an Operator can define a Software package to be deployed - this can either be a collection of files and folders specified with appropriate action parameters once delivered to a target system or by recording and scripting any user prompts required during an application install so that the package can be deployed onto a user’s system without intervention. Once created the application package can be automatically "Pushed" to target PCs for deployment or "Published" centrally. Once “Published” a User can check to see which applications are available for their PC and install these on-demand. DNA further offers the ability to schedule packages for distribution, whereby the user can specify the date and time to distribute a specific package. This is especially effective for out of office hours distribution when network activity is at its lowest.
DNA provides a multi delivery option for software distribution. To begin, an Operator can define a Software package to be deployed - this can either be a collection of files and folders specified with appropriate action parameters once delivered to a target system or by recording and scripting any user prompts required during an application install so that the package can be deployed onto a user’s system without intervention. Once created the application package can be automatically "Pushed" to target PCs for deployment or "Published" centrally. Once “Published” a User can check to see which applications are available for their PC and install these on-demand. DNA further offers the ability to schedule packages for distribution, whereby the user can specify the date and time to distribute a specific package. This is especially effective for out of office hours distribution when network activity is at its lowest.
SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTION WAREHOUSE
To ease network traffic congestion when executing large scale deployments, DNA enables you to nominate a Client, ideally local to the target machines, to act as a 'distribution warehouse'. When the package is deployed, rather than the server pushing it to each Client in turn, it installs at the Warehouse Client which then distributes it to the remaining targets.
What sets NetSupport DNA apart is its ability to report on your assets no matter where they are, going beyond just a local or wide area network. NetSupport’s Internet Gateway technology provides a stable and secure method for tracking assets that may ordinarily be ‘hidden’ on a remote network or behind firewalls.
REMOTE CONTROL
DNA Remote Control offers advanced functionality for the effective management of remote workstations. Watch, Share or Control the screen, mouse & keyboard of target PCs irrespective of O/S & network protocol. Includes full message & text chat facilities, comprehensive security, multi- platform support & desktop integration. For a more powerful remote control solution, NetSupport Manager (NSM) is offered as an extra module. Together with the above, NSM offers File Transfer & File Distribution, Hardware & Software Inventory, Scripting & Scheduling, The Gateway (connecting to PCs located behind firewalls) and Scan, for the monitoring of multiple remote workstation screens.
