Correcting Inaccuracies About
DeviceLock
In the December 2006 issue of Windows IT Pro, SmartLine's DeviceLock 6.0 was included in the comparative
product review "Client Device Managers" (InstantDoc ID 93926). The
reviewer, Karl D. Middlebrooks, made
claims about DeviceLock that are
incorrect. We'd like to set the record
straight for Windows IT Pro's readers
and our customers.
Mr. Middlebrooks wrote, "Unfortunately, DeviceLock provides no
out-of-the-box way to produce
reports on the logging data, so a third-party reporting utility is
required to make the best use of the
audit trail." This statement and the
row in the article's product feature
table that indicates DeviceLock does
not include reporting tools are incorrect. Through the DeviceLock Enterprise Manager (DLEM) console that
is installed by default, DeviceLock
has several obvious "out-of-the-box"
reporting tools and doesn't require
third-party solutions. In version 6.0,
which was reviewed in the article,
the following enterprise reporting
tools are easily accessible:
- Permissions reports, for determining access and audit policy settings
on managed endpoint computers.
- Audit Log Viewer reports (with
sorting and wildcard filtering by
column), for working with standard logging DeviceLock data from
managed endpoint computers.
- Plug 'n' Play Auditor reports, for
determining what USB, FireWire,
and PCMCIA devices have been or
currently are installed on endpoint
computers. This report can also be
used to populate the USB White
List database.
- Shadow Log Viewer reports (with
sorting and wildcard filtering by
column), for working with DeviceLock Data Shadow logs from managed endpoint computers.
Pricing plays a major role in the
decision to purchase any product. Unfortunately, the pricing listed for
DeviceLock in the article is incorrect
and represented only the purchase of
a single DeviceLock license—which
retails for $35.00 per computer—
whereas the two competing products
were compared at volume pricing
for 25 licenses—respectively, $25.00
and $27.50
per computer. DeviceLock's
volume pricing
for 25 licenses
is $22.00 per
computer. Volume pricing for 100 seats
is $15.50 per
computer, and
pricing for 1,000
seats is $7.40
per computer. DeviceLock's volume pricing information is available
at http://www.devicelock.com.
Mr. Middlebrooks stated that only
Centennial Software's DeviceWall
4.0 has a "Deny Permission" feature.
In fact, DeviceLock's permission
parameter is called NO ACCESS and
performs the same function. DeviceLock also provides a Read-Only
permission parameter for ports and
devices that can store files.
Finally, Mr. Middlebrooks reported
that DeviceLock doesn't use the
grouping of computers for policy
settings. It's true that DeviceLock
doesn't use any foreign constructs or
database abstracts of the environment
as other solutions do to "artificially
group" computers. However, through
the DeviceLock Enterprise Manager
console, an administrator can leverage
native directory structures and containers to represent "Groups of Computers" to list and select for similar
policies, such as "Organizational Units
(OUs)," "Computer Types," "LDAP
OUs," and/or importing computer
names from a set list. Administrators
can also choose to multiselect any
desired computers from a domain
container or network list.
Like many of you, we believe that Windows IT Pro continues to
be a highly respected, trusted news
source for our industry. We appreciate the opportunity to set the record
straight about DeviceLock.
—Chris Heinemann
Manager, Marketing Communications, AdvancedForce
InfoSecurity Solutions, Inc.
See Associated Figure
The Value of Vista
Regarding Karen Forster's IT Pro Perspective: "The Value of Vista,
Office, and Exchange" (January 2007, InstantDoc ID 94455), I'm the network admin for a small college in Wisconsin, and I can tell you that we're not planning to
move to Vista any time soon. Heck,
we're only grudgingly considering
64-bit upgrades to our OSs. The big
problems: hardware upgrade costs
and software incompatibility. For
example, we can't easily afford to
migrate off Windows Messenger 5.1,
which is incompatible with Vista.
Moreover, many of the basic Windows Server 2003 admin tools don't
run properly on Vista (or on 64-bit
systems)—which is, by the way, a lack
of professional polish that I consider
unacceptable. Although members of our staff have gotten the admin
pack and other tools to run on Vista
by manually registering DLLs and
copying a few files manually into
different system folders, my belief is
that Microsoft—which presumably
wants our business—should be offering Vista-compatible tools right off
the bat. After all, IT departments are
the early adopters; if we're just going
to use remote desktop to connect to
another workstation to do our basic
administrative tasks (as Microsoft
workarounds suggest), what value is
there in Vista to us?
—Tom Davidson
End of Article
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