Successful appliance deployment includes high quality update and patch management processes. In addition, this includes “maintaining knowledge of available patches and updates, deciding on the necessary patches and updates for a given system, and then ensuring they are effective through the testing of the systems and documenting the process.”
That’s according to an NEI (News - Alert) blog post, which adds that “for midsize and large enterprises with numerous systems, update management best practices call for automating this process.”
“Patch management is being cannibalized by other security markets and integrated into IT operations management products,” the post states, explaining that in the company’s opinion, “the focus has become complete software lifecycle management with an application update manager as one element of a broader service.”
So in essence if you’re a provider of a point product, it might be a good idea to consider developing relationships with resellers and distributors. Either that, or you can look forward to being acquired “as part of an integrated offering,” the blog notes, since large software vendors want to partner with point patch management providers.
There are niche opportunities in some vertical markets that require regulatory-specific reporting such as the financial and healthcare industries and NEI adds if you’re an update management vendor, it’s possible you could cater to these industries.
But overall, a mature market “will see reduced resources available for research and development.” The blog concludes-, that “as the technology and market matures, features will become standardized and focus will turn to price.”
In related news, in July TMCnet reported that with an objective to simplify patch management for Microsoft Windows computers, LogMeIn (News - Alert) announced new Windows update capabilities for Internet connected computers on its LogMeIn Pro and LogMeIn central remote access and management product lines.
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David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.
Edited by Jamie Epstein