IBM announces Desktop Management Services

By Alun Williams

Posted on 30 Sep 2003 at 12:46

IBM has announced its new Desktop Management Services, aimed at small and medium-sized businesses. This is designed to be a way for companies to buy a pre-packaged pay-per-seat service, which covers PCs and their maintenance services.

Removing complexity from PC management and reducing total cost of ownership is IBM's claim for the PC services.

'With software and chip updates no longer driving the PC upgrade cycle,' said Christian Klezl, director of Infrastructure Management Services, IBM EMEA, 'businesses are looking more and more to use services as a way to build stronger, cheaper, easier-to-use IT systems that allow them to compete better in their specific industry.'

With prices starting from £480 per year, IBM claims potential average savings of more than £600 a year per PC based on figures from the analysts Meta Group, who have calculated average desktop maintenance at between $2,000 (£1,258) and $5,000 (£3,145) a year.

The precise cost of the service will depend on factors such as the number of locations and remote users, and the mix of desktop to notebook machines. That £480 figure for the service, by the way, is based on 500 desktops across three locations.

You can find more information about Desktop Management Services on the IBM website.