Organizations should acquire a comprehensive PC configuration solution from vendors that can manage the full PC life cycle because these tools manage a diverse set of configuration functions through a single console and consolidated reporting. Application virtualization/isolation and application streaming, as well as the continued convergence of security and operations, are the most prominent emerging capabilities influencing buying decisions.

The products in the PC life cycle configuration management market are used to lower the total cost of managing client systems, to reduce the risks they pose to the business for security — malicious software (malware) prevention — and compliance (internal or regulatory guidelines), and to provide better quality of service to end users. The core functions of the PC life cycle configuration management market were initially inventory and software distribution. During the past five to seven years, the use and exposure of PCs have significantly changed, with increased Internet connectivity, frequent malware attacks and the continuum of new operating system (OS) rollouts. Consequently, organizations had to start viewing PC management as a strategic practice, and could no longer buy tools tactically that had little integration across individual needs. In addition, as IT organizations have had to leverage disparate skills, centralization of management has led to the sharing of automation across groups (for example, imaging, patching, packaging and software updating). This shift has also pushed the vendors to offer more-comprehensive suites that continue to grow in breadth and depth to manage more of the PC life cycle.

The most important conditions that drive buying behavior are:

• Total cost of ownership (TCO): For first-time users, the driver is still about reducing the human touch to lower costs. For organizations that are evaluating a replacement tool, TCO is about the struggle to manage their PCs more efficiently.
• Standard hardware and software inventory: Organizations continue to struggle with maintaining an accurate inventory of their IT assets and producing useful reports.
• Software license compliance: Organizations have difficulty maintaining an accurate inventory, and thus do not know what software is installed on user machines or who's using the various software.
• Regulatory compliance: The list is growing — for example, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Office of Management and Budget's standard image specification and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
• Security: To minimize vulnerabilities on the endpoint, organizations need to enforce security policies and deploy OS and application patches without disrupting PC configurations.
• Major Microsoft projects, such as Vista or Office 2007 rollouts, prompt users to re-evaluate their toolsets' capabilities.

Because Microsoft owns the desktop OS and some major applications, it influences how management can be done. Although Microsoft has traditionally not provided best-of-breed management technology, it set the minimum targets for the basic functionality for its competitors. It has also affected various standards and approaches to PC management, including:

Windows Installer defined the de facto packaging standard.

• In addition to other market entrants (for example, Altiris and Thinstall) gaining momentum, Microsoft's Softricity acquisition was one of the major catalysts that confirmed software virtualization and streaming as a viable software delivery model.
• Microsoft's announcement of Mobile Device Manager and the potential integration into the Systems Center Configuration Manager console signify the convergence of PC and small device management.

Microsoft released a new version of Systems Management Server, now called System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr), on 12 November 2007. This slowed buying decisions in 2007, effectively stalling the market and lengthening the buying cycle in some cases. ConfigMgr's pervasiveness on Microsoft Enterprise Agreements has led buyers to wait and determine if the new product's capabilities meet their requirements, thus saving them the trouble of purchasing a new tool and assuming that buying from Microsoft will be less expensive and less risky. Microsoft continues to drive buying requirements, but also leaves room for competitors to differentiate themselves with superior offerings. Competitors have developed capabilities in complementary segments, such as security and asset management, where Microsoft has not focused as strongly. A unified buyer for PC configuration, security and asset management has not yet emerged as a mainstream condition, but these complementary functions continue to influence buying decisions (especially for midsize businesses).

Despite the new capabilities that vendors are offering, there has been little vendor movement in the Magic Quadrant from 2006 because customers are still focused on the basics of software distribution, inventory, patch management and imaging (to facilitate Vista migrations). The configuration management market grew at 25% in 2006 (see "Forecast: IT Operations Management Software, Worldwide, 2006-2011, Update"), and PC life cycle configuration management was the largest contributor. However, server configuration management accounted for the largest amount of growth because there is so little penetration in server configuration automation. This market is highly saturated, especially in the large enterprise segment, although there is a continuum of replacement business for two reasons:

• Many large enterprises experience dissatisfaction with existing tools because they require too much customization, do not get refreshed often enough or lack new capabilities to address new requirements.
• There is a high incidence of failure among enterprises (particularly midsize businesses) with previous tools due to many factors — for example, lack of process maturity to utilize the tool effectively or a poor match of tools to requirements.

Consequently, these tools generally cycle in and out of organizations approximately every three to four years, and more rapidly through small organizations, even though vendors have been focusing on usability improvements to address the high rate of failure in small and midsize businesses (SMBs).

PC life cycle configuration management tools continue to mature and grow in breadth. However, success and failure are often unrelated to the automation tool. Process maturity and desktop standardization are more important success factors. In complex or highly scalable environments that are well-managed, automation offers significant cost reduction and efficiency that manual operations cannot accomplish because humans cannot scale. At some point, automation is needed to enable effective repeatability.

PC life cycle configuration management tools manage the configuration on client systems. Most vendors offer basic functionality for managing non-Windows platforms, such as Apple, Linux or handheld devices, but the majority of customer requirements and vendor attention has revolved around managing Windows systems. The standard life cycle functionality in suite offerings are:

• Inventory
• Software distribution
• Patch management
• Imaging
• Software usage management
• Software packaging with conflict resolution
• Remote control
• Policy management
• PC data and settings migration

The most significant disruptor of the PC life cycle configuration management market is application virtualization and streaming, which provide alternatives to traditional software packaging and delivery. Application virtualization enables administrators to isolate the application resources from other applications and from the OS, reducing packaging/conflict testing time and the risk of conflicts with other applications.

Streaming is a delivery technology that enables applications to be parsed into smaller downloadable pieces that are stored on the PC and provides a "pull" model for more-timely execution and updates when a user wants to access the complete applications. Streaming and application virtualization factored into many buying decisions that Gartner saw in 2007, to supplement or augment traditional delivery methods, not replace them. Planning for Vista has also driven interest in virtualization; however, organizations have realized that integration with PC life cycle configuration management tools is critical to a successful deployment.

Organizations usually have some users who are highly mobile and don't frequently connect to the corporate network. IT organizations may still want to manage those devices to ensure the stability of the machine and protect the endpoint and its data. Vendors are increasingly providing capabilities to manage those devices using secure Internet protocols (for example, Secure Sockets Layer), which offer a new way to garner more-efficient and secure connectivity than previous methods.

One of the primary challenges of managing asset inventory is rationalizing discovered software titles because of the myriad naming conventions vendors use. Several vendors in this market are offering software catalog subscriptions to help organizations normalize the data in their software inventory. Clients have reported the usefulness of this offering, helping customers with license management and inventory.

Security has emerged as a complementary capability offered by several vendors in the PC life cycle configuration management market, responding to customers that want a consolidated solution to manage and secure the endpoint. Security functions emerging in this market are antivirus (not the content, but the enforcement of antivirus definition updates), vulnerability analysis and host-intrusion prevention (for example, application control and port blocking). As security becomes more automated, customers will increasingly look to the same vendor to manage and secure the endpoint.

The base functions (software distribution and inventory) became fairly similar across the majority of vendors' offerings during the past five years. Application virtualization and streaming will change the way organizations approach packaging and software distribution. Software catalogs are helping organizations improve their inventory accuracy. None of these technologies is new, but the way they're used is becoming mainstream. Furthermore, as desktop engineering takes on more security and compliance responsibility, and tangential areas such as service desk and asset management (for SMBs) require more integration with managing the PC, customer requirements will continue to evolve.

Before 2005, we published the Magic Quadrant for Desktop Software Distribution, because software distribution was the pre-eminent capability in the market. Owing to the trend of managing PCs through their useful lives, we began to evaluate the vendors' ability to automate this concept. Software distribution, inventory and patch management have historically been the core elements of these suites. This year, we added PC imaging as a critical competency because buyers are re-evaluating their imaging tools with Vista migration projects that are in progress or on the horizon.

Several other important functions influence buying decisions — software usage management, remote control, security configuration management, PC data/settings migration and software packaging with conflict resolution. New in this year's evaluation criteria are application virtualization and streaming and policy management. Buyers are already considering virtualization and streaming for future implementations. Policy management refers to the ability to monitor and enforce an approved configuration on a client system, a capability that organizations require for security and compliance, and to improve operational stability and availability (to reduce end-user downtime and help desk costs). We evaluated the vendors' capabilities (and whether they had these functions at all) and to what extent they integrate with the rest of the suite.

Summary of functional criteria for PC configuration life cycle management:

Required:

• Inventory/discovery
• Software distribution
• Patch management
• OS deployment

At least three of the following are required:

• Policy management
• Data/settings migration
• Software packaging with conflict resolution
• Software use
• Remote control
• Security configuration management
• Application virtualization
• Application streaming

In previous years, we evaluated client backup and disposal as part of managing the overall life cycle of the PC configuration. We did not evaluate these functions this year because Gartner found few organizations that required them in 2007 as part of a PC life cycle configuration management suite purchase. We've also seen sporadic attention and use of PC configuration management tools for managing handheld devices. We did not evaluate mobile device management in this year's Magic Quadrant because demand has been low; however, this capability will become more relevant starting in two years.

We required a minimum number of references for installed customers of specific sizes using current products. Although most vendors focus on large enterprises or SMBs, we evaluated them all according to the same criteria:

• The vendor must have at least 10 customer references.
• At least three references must have more than 35,000 managed PCs.
• At least three references must have fewer than 5,000 managed PCs.
• The remaining four references can be of any size.

Client inquiry plays a critical role in our evaluation. Vendors must generate sufficient client interest and inquiry to be noticed by Gartner analysts. Analysts must also receive feedback from clients indicating that they are using the products, and the company must demonstrate competitive presence and sales to Gartner analysts.

Among the vendors that did not meet the criteria for the Magic Quadrant were Attachmate-NetIQ, BigFix, Everdream, iPass, Kace and Quest (ScriptLogic). These vendors can be viable choices for organizations that require ease of use, need strength in a specific functional area or don't need the proven scalability of the vendors on the Magic Quadrant. Because these vendors tend to be smaller, specialized players, they may offer compelling functionality not found in other tools.

None

In December 2006, IBM released a re-architected PC life cycle configuration management product called Tivoli Provisioning Manager for Software 5.1 (TPMfSW 5.1), which replaced Tivoli Configuration Manager (TCM). IBM did not meet the reference requirements for this Magic Quadrant because we have not found any organizations using TPMfSW for managing PCs. As is true with any product, TPMfSW should only be considered if you can find at least two references that are similar in size and have similar requirements to your organization, and have had success with the product.

This refers to the company's financial position and stability, and ability to market and sell its products. This is not a rating of how well or how poorly customers are able to implement or execute the vendor's product. A company that captures 100% of a market with a product that does not work well would be very high in its execution rating and very low in its vision rating. Vendors making potential customers' shortlists is a major contributor to their ability to execute. Several other factors contribute to execution success (for example, revenue growth and ability to land partners).

In contrast, vendors that have had a long-standing market share presence, and also have traditionally sold their solutions as part of a larger deal or as part of a strategic partnership, are making fewer shortlists because they don't meet many of the life cycle requirements that clients demand. Additionally, prices are dropping. Shortlists continue to have fewer vendors on them due to the increasing maturity and competitiveness of this market.

We evaluated completeness of vision by looking at the vendors' product capabilities, as well as their offerings and strategies to meet emerging customer requirements. We rated all the products based on their features and functions, along with their level of integration with third-party products. In addition to rating the standard functions for completeness of vision for each vendor, we evaluated product reliability, scalability and ease of use, which are not functions per se, but are important customer requirements. In the Innovation section, we evaluated security configuration management, virtualization/streaming, asset management, service desk and server configuration management. Vision ratings are heavily influenced by what clients tell us about the vendors for categories such as sales strategy and marketing strategy.

Positioning in the Leaders quadrant is the result of successful completeness of vision and ability to execute. They have had success in at least some of the following areas:

• Attention to what clients will need next for managing the PC life cycle (for example, virtualization, streaming and security configuration management)
• Consistent positive client feedback concerning the efficacy of the product
• Continued visibility and success in a more crowded and competitive market
• High market share
• Broad geographic presence
• Superior track record for market responsiveness and customer service

This is the second year that the Magic Quadrant for PC Life Cycle Configuration Management has had leaders. The vendors in the Leaders quadrant appear most frequently on our clients' shortlists, and have maintained visibility and success in an increasingly competitive market.

Challengers are defined by a keen ability to execute, but with products that lack complete functionality, compared with competitors, and few features that are seen to shape the future of the market. Their ability to execute will be proved by their high market share and their appearance on numerous shortlists. That ability is bolstered by industry-leading overall fiscal health and broad geographic presence, but they are followers with superior marketing and sales execution. They reach their market positions in terms of share and frequency of presence on shortlists because they price products aggressively, bundle products with others or even give them away.

For the second consecutive year, there are no vendors in the Challengers quadrant. It is conceivable that this market eventually could have challengers. Several vendors bundle standard PC life cycle configuration management functionality into broader suites. Vendors that succeed with this strategy are potential challengers.

Visionaries in this market will have vision scores that reflect feature-complete products, or show leadership in providing some life cycle management functions that users have just started requesting or that will have an impact in the next year or two. A visionary appears on shortlists because it offers a complete solution and a larger story for multiple adjacent management needs (for example, service desk, security configuration management, server management, handheld management, application virtualization or asset management). However, its ability to execute is hampered by its size and stature, or focus. Its sales force may be smaller than those of other vendors, or it may be very large but concentrates less on life cycle configuration management.

Niche products can be very good choices. Niche vendors generally provide less functionality or cover smaller geographies than the other vendors in this market. Sometimes, niche vendors have difficulty getting on a broad set of client shortlists. On the vision scale, the difference between niche players and visionaries is narrowing — hence the smaller gap than has existed in past Magic Quadrants. Niche players have concentrated on providing more-robust life cycle management capability along with increased capability in adjacent areas, such as security and service desk. Organizations that are looking for products with certain strengths or in certain geographies may find that a niche vendor's products offer superior capability and support to other vendors in a Magic Quadrant.

• Has a complete PC life cycle management product with a good reputation.
• LANDesk Desktop Management Suite has primarily grown organically, resulting in quick delivery of new capability with good integration.
• Developed relationships with many channel partners, including an OEM with Lenovo and a strong relationship with Intel.
• Strong presence and focus on enterprise solutions.
• Has developed tight integration with application virtualization tools, including an OEM relationship with Thinstall.

• With the exception of patch management, Gartner has seen little adoption of add-on products (asset, security and handheld management).
• Recent reliance on partners (rather than acquisition) for key functions (service desk and application virtualization) may represent slowing focus by Avocent, the parent company.
• Without more focused attention on LANDesk, Avocent will lose its competitive edge.

• Scalable software distribution; often found where bandwidth is a challenge.
• Integration with Remedy (change management) and Atrium (CMDB) for "closed loop" change management and user self-service.
• Strong policy management (ability to maintain a standard configuration on the PC).

• Lack of focus on PC requirements, evidenced by few enhancements to the product, lack of visibility on client shortlists and customer complaints about support.
• Customers have reported difficulty with reporting.
• Reliance on partnerships for security, patch management, virtualization and OS deployment.

• The CA R11 architecture provides tight integration with the service desk and asset management modules.
• Extensive PC migration capabilities that were acquired through its acquisition of Miramar (Desktop DNA).

• Losing visibility; infrequently on client shortlists.
• PC life cycle configuration management is only important to CA in the context of a broader IT service management offering.
• Lacks an application virtualization/streaming solution or partnership.

• Influx of capital from the acquisition by FrontRange provided some financial stability and has accelerated the development schedule.
• Ease of use and integration of the IT Service Management help desk solution and enteo provide a compelling solution for enterprise one-stop shopping.
• Strong native Visual Basic scripting and .MSI packaging functionality.
• Strong Citrix management capabilities enable the management of Citrix server farms and client PCs from a single console.

• Challenged in supporting large distributed environments.
• Lack of enteo brand recognition, especially outside Europe, evidenced by showing on few client shortlists in 2007.
• Lacks an application virtualization/streaming solution or partnership.

• Strongest policy management product in the market through "desired state."
• Scalable software distribution with advanced bandwidth management suitable for large enterprises.
• Provides a set of integrated solutions to complete the PC life cycle (for example, imaging, patch management and packaging).
• Offers solutions for SMBs and large enterprises based on the same architecture, enabling ease of migration for growth of client.
• Great success in its installed base, where desired configuration and policy management are required.
• Since the acquisition of Opsware, which was done to address data center needs, HP Client Automation software will provide greater focus and attention to addressing PC life cycle configuration management requirements.

• Requires significant planning for full policy-based implementation.
• Customers have reported challenges with reporting.
• HP did not commit the necessary focus and investment to stay ahead of competitors in PC life cycle configuration management after the Novadigm acquisition, which resulted in customer dissatisfaction and not meeting market requirements as rapidly as competitors.
• HP must continue to make progress with its Personal Systems Group and demonstrate continued focus to maintain market leadership.

• Full life cycle suite with easy-to-use administrative console.
• Hardware-independent OS-deployment; enables thin imaging.
• Increasing security focus for single-vendor endpoint security and management solution for SMB.

• Lack of visibility, especially in the U.S.; showing up on few client shortlists, however it has increased its investment in U.S. support, sales and marketing since 2006.
• Lacks service desk offering, but offers connectors into BMC Remedy and iET Solutions.
• Recently announced an OEM arrangement with Thinstall, and thus behind competitors in selling and supporting application virtualization.

• Intuitive user interface enabling greater ease of use.
• Good policy-based software distribution with tight integration with Microsoft Active Directory.
• Good solution for distributed environments with low bandwidth and low infrastructure requirements.

• Visibility is declining. Fewer Gartner clients had ManageSoft on their shortlist for 2007, compared with previous years.
• Lacks an application virtualization/streaming solution or partnership.
• Dependency on Active Directory for policy management has been required up until the most recent version (v.7.9); ManageSoft policy management in non-Active Directory environments is unproven.

• Although System Center Configuration Manager was recently made generally available, it's on the highest number of client product shortlists because of its inclusion in Microsoft Enterprise Agreements.
• Early ConfigMgr references report improvements in core capabilities: OS deployment, integration with Windows Server Update Services, improved software distribution (for example, client is more responsive to seeing and running an advertisement) and role-based access control.
• Partnerships with service providers and vendors of complementary technology that provide connectors with ConfigMgr because of its large installed base.
• SoftGrid acquisition signifies Microsoft's understanding of the impact that application virtualization and streaming have on the PC life cycle configuration management market and the potential impact on Microsoft. Although not part of the ConfigMgr suite, SoftGrid is attracting significant client interest as an alternative to packaging applications for full-client installations.
• Availability of administrators Systems Management Server (SMS) skills ensures ongoing availability for future resource needs.
• Successfully sells to large organizations and SMBs, although large organizations are generally more successful at using the product.

• Microsoft has been slow to deliver new product capabilities.
• Does not provide best-of-breed PC life cycle configuration management functionality in any functional area.
• The infrastructure to manage ConfigMgr is complex and difficult to manage, requiring more human resources to operate the product.
• SoftGrid's prerequisites of Software Assurance and the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack could prevent customers from evaluating the technology properly, resulting in vendor lock-in.
• Has not focused on security configuration management as closely as some of the other vendors in this market.

• Demonstrated a renewed focus on ZENworks, evidenced by the delivery of v.10 and the Senforce acquisition.
• V.10 provides significant usability improvements: consolidated inventory, asset and patch management into the ZENworks agent; removed the eDirectory requirement; and accelerated product installation time.
• Good policy-based management through deep integration with eDirectory and ActiveDirectory.

• NetWare's customer base is declining, and organizations are reconsidering ZENworks as part of the changing overall Novell vendor relationship.
• Customer awareness: Gartner has spoken to many Novell ZENworks customers who weren't aware of the new product and its architectural and functional enhancements.
• Lacks an application virtualization/streaming solution or partnership.

• Strong brand recognition through channel partner relationships and marketing acumen in the enterprise segment.
• Full life cycle management solution.
• Competitive solution for PC application virtualization and streaming.
• Strong capabilities in adjacent areas such as security configuration and asset management.

• Symantec is challenged with rationalizing overlapping products.
• Challenges across integration of acquired products (most functions in life cycle came from acquisitions).
• Uncertainty about future assimilation into Symantec, which has a history of mixed success with acquisitions.
• Despite strong security concentration, patch management is behind the market