New version of Spiceworks IT Desktop package released

Spiceworks 5 adds customer helpdesk portals, the ability to track IT assets and network device configuration monitoring

Spiceworks launches new features aimed at multi-location enterprises and managed service providers

IT management vendor Spiceworks today launched version 5 of its free IT management package.

Spiceworks IT Desktop is a software application for monitoring and managing inventory of hardware and software for SMEs and enterprise branch offices.

Spiceworks' development costs are offset through IT technology adverts displayed on a separate pane alongside the browser-based graphics user interface (GUI).

The latest version, upgraded from v4.7, offers several improvements, one of the most popular being People View, says Spiceworks co-founder Jay Hallberg.

People View gives IT administrators the ability to track information by employee rather than device, and integrates with network services technology Microsoft Active Directory (AD).

The new version sees an upgrade to Spiceworks' integrated helpdesk, which allows multiple helpdesk portals. This feature is designed to appeal to managed service providers (MSPs), the company said.

"Helpdesk tickets are sent into siloed helpdesk portals where the MSP can see all the tickets, but individual firms can only see the status of their own tickets," said Hallberg.

Other improvements let network administrators manage switch and router hardware configurations. There is also an integrated IT asset purchasing management system.

Support for virtualisation platform Microsoft Hyper-V is included along with the ability to manage warranty renewals for HP and Dell IT equipment.

"Previously you could see the status of renewals, but in 5.0 you can email your representative and renew those warranties," said Hallberg.

Originally companies with up to 250 employees were the primary target for Spiceworks. But Hallberg says one million IT administrators are currently using Spiceworks to manage IT in their enterprises.

"We're seeing the most usage from firms with between 100 and 1,000 employees, " he said.

He said there were about 5,000 companies that employ more than 1,000 people, using Spiceworks somewhere in their infrastructure.

Firms can pay for a version of Spiceworks IT Desktop without targeted technology adverts.

Asked what percentage of firms pay not to have the adverts, Hallberg said: " It's incredibly small and a lot of them don't renew when their subscription ends after a year."

Spiceworks launched in early 2006 and version 1.0 of the package became available that November.