ManageEngine, the real-time IT management company, today bolstered the compliance and audit controls now available in its server and desktop management software, Desktop Central. Specifically, Desktop Central now provides video recording of remote support sessions to establish a complete, verifiable record of all activities performed by support personnel. ManageEngine has further upgraded Desktop Central with MS SQL Server support and mobile device management features for Apple iOS devices.

As more enterprises deal with more customer data — from healthcare records to financial statements and beyond — IT organizations are held accountable to, and must comply with, the requirements of HIPAA, PCI and other security and privacy standards. Now, Desktop Central extends audit capabilities to the remote control tools that IT teams use to access users’ PCs and file servers. Video recording the entire remote support session provides transparency and insight into technician actions, letting companies clearly meet their audit requirements.

“IT is ethically and legally responsible for maintaining user data in a private, secure manner,” said Mathivanan Venkatachalam, director of product management at ManageEngine, a division of Zoho Corp. “The new video recording capabilities in Desktop Central confirm IT department efforts to maintain that data standard. By establishing incontrovertible proof of the service that IT technicians provide to their remote users, companies subject to government and industry regulations have a fool-proof way to demonstrate their compliance.”

Desktop Central Enhances Enterprise, Mobile Capabilities

Beyond its audit and compliance advances, Desktop Central reinforces its enterprise capabilities with support for Microsoft SQL Server. Extending support to Microsoft’s widely used, enterprise-class database promises to improve the performance of Desktop Central and deliver the following benefits:

  • Streamlined manageability – IT shops can use a single Microsoft SQL Server database for all IT management applications.
  • Built-in services – Extensive auditing capabilities and backup policies are delivered as standard features of Microsoft SQL Server.
  • Variety of tools – Broad ISV support of Microsoft SQL Server ensures a wide variety of commercially available reporting tools to extract customized reports.

Desktop Central also gains previously announced mobile device management (MDM) capabilities for iOS devices — the iPhone and iPad as well as the iPod touch — with support for other mobile device OSes to come. Tight integration between Desktop Central and ServiceDesk Plus extends help desk and asset management to mobile devices. MDM features of Desktop Central include:

  • Security management – Lock the device, erase device data, erase corporate settings, clear passcodes, and execute other security commands
  • Asset management – View certificates and profiles installed, restriction details, security information, app inventory, and device information
  • Configuration management – Enable passcodes, impose restrictions, configure email, enable Exchange ActiveSync and configure VPN and WiFi settings

Pricing and Availability

Desktop Central 8 is available immediately, with prices starting at $295 annually for its Standard Edition. Mobile support is available for the Professional and Enterprise Editions and priced as packs, based on volume of devices supported and starting at $20 per device per year. A free edition suitable for managing up to 25 computers is also available, as is a free, fully functional, 30-day trial version, which can be found at http://ow.ly/7R4ke.

For more information on Desktop Central, please visit http://www.manageengine.com/desktop-central/. For more information on ManageEngine, please visit www.manageengine.com; follow the company blog at http://blogs.manageengine.com, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ManageEngine and on Twitter at @ManageEngine.

Customer Testimonials

Video clips of IT leaders describing their Desktop Central implementations can be seen on the ManageEngine website at http://ow.ly/9koaI.

Related ManageEngine News and Resources

  • ManageEngine Delivers on Mobile Device Management Promise; http://ow.ly/9hkqH
  • ManageEngine to Launch Mobile Device Management Services at Mobile World Congress; http://ow.ly/8UAOK
  • ManageEngine and Mobile Device Management (MDM); www.manageengine.com/mdm

About ManageEngine Desktop Central

ManageEngine Desktop Central is complete desktop management software that provides software deployment, patch management, service pack installation, asset management, remote control, configurations, system tools, user logon reports and Active Directory reports. It is a network-neutral solution that can be used to manage desktops in Active Directory, Workgroups, or other directory services-based networks like Novell® eDirectory. It can manage computers in multiple domains and can also manage computers across WAN (branch offices). It comes in two flavors — one for an in-premise installation for Enterprises and the other for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to manage their clients’ desktops. For more information on ManageEngine Desktop Central, visit http://www.manageengine.com/desktop-central/.

About ManageEngine

ManageEngine delivers the real-time IT management tools that empower an IT team to meet an organization’s need for real-time services and support. Worldwide, more than 55,000 established and emerging enterprises — including more than 60 percent of the Fortune 500 — rely on ManageEngine products to ensure the optimal performance of their critical IT infrastructure, including networks, servers, applications, desktops and more. ManageEngine is a division of Zoho Corp. with offices worldwide, including the United States, United Kingdom, India, Japan and China. For more information, please visit http://www.manageengine.com/; follow the company blog at http://blogs.manageengine.com/, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ManageEngine and on Twitter at @ManageEngine.

ManageEngine is a trademark of Zoho Corp. All other brand names and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Tags: ManageEngine, real-time IT, Zoho, Desktop Central, ServiceDesk Plus, mobile device management, Apple, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, mobile, Microsoft SQL Server, HIPAA, PCI, desktop management, service desk, help desk, integrated IT management, cloud monitoring, virtualization, cloud, IT management, business service management, application performance monitoring, user experience monitoring, network management, server management