General
SMS 2003 meets the technical and management challenges of managing computing
systems by using a distributed and scalable archtecture. SMS 2003 addresses
the following key issues that IT administrators face in managing distributed
computing environments:
- Managing computers that roam from one location to another and connect to the network from different geographical locations.
- Tracking deployment and use of software assets, and using this information to plan software procurement and licensing.
- Providing IT administrators and management access to data accumulated by SMS.
- Providing scalable hardware and software management to the growing population of computers running Windows operating systems.
- Managing security on computers running Windows operating systems while expending a minimum level of administrative overhead.
The focus of software metering in SMS 2003 is collecting and reporting software
program usage data. Hardware and software inventory provide the same functionality
on the Advanced Client and on the Legacy Client.