Comparing Novell ZENworks 11 to Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager

Novell ZENworks can offer your business a long list of unique benefits and
advantages. It is based on a new Novell ZENworks 11 platform that combines and
integrates configuration, asset, patch, and endpoint security management for
Windows and Linux desktops. It offers a single, modular architecture that maximizes
flexibility and scalability, simplifies and speeds management throughout the device
lifecycle, minimizes processing demands on managed clients, reduces bandwidth
consumption for management processes and uses standards-based protocols to
seamlessly integrate with your choice of user directory and object database. It lets
you manage systems based on users identities, roles, groups and locations, so IT
can work hand-in-glove with the company’s business priorities and policies. Finally, it
gives you a secure, web-based console for unified control over all your management tasks—from virtually anywhere.

Of course, Novell ZENworks 11 is not the only endpoint and configuration
management solution on the market and Microsoft's System Center Configuration
Manager 2007 ( SCCM ) is one of many that it competes against.

But first, what should you really be comparing?

Novell ZENworks 11 and Microsoft's System Center Configuration Manager offer a
wealth of features. They are designed to manage not just your environment, but
countless others as well. These may be a single site with a few hundred identical
devices, multiple sites with several thousand devices, those that span multiple time
zones and political borders, computers in kiosks, in libraries, on cruise ships; the list
is almost endless.
In fewer words, they contain more features than you would ever need or even use.
Given this, does it make any sense to compare products to each other on a feature
basis? It really doesn't.

You should firstly compare products against the list of capabilities that are required
to manage your environment and only then look at how each product compares
against each other for delivery of that capability.

Notice how we've changed from discussing features to that of capabilities. Lets
define a capability; its a collection of features that satisfy a business requirement.

Build a matrix that calls out the capabilities that you require. Mark these as Must have and Nice to have to indicate their importance. One tip; do not copy from a vendor product flyer.

Once you have built your list, only then start the comparison process. This should
include a proof of concept test for all the solutions under consideration to provide
worthwhile results. After all, you would never purchase an automobile based on the
nice pretty brochure, a test drive is always in order.

Next steps

If you want to find out how Novell ZENworks 11 to Microsoft System Center
Configuration Manager 2007 R3, download the attachment and take a look.