KACE, the leading systems management appliance company, today revealed its top 10 predictions in 2010 that will impact systems management. KACE predicts widespread Windows 7 deployment will make the new Microsoft operating system the most popular enterprise-used OS since XP. A recent survey by ChangeWave backs this claim showing Windows 7 has helped fuel corporate PC sales in December to reach their highest level since 2008.

“Windows 7 has thrust the importance of operating system innovation front and center in the eyes of corporations worldwide,” said Marty Kacin, founder and CTO of KACE. “The adoption of new operating systems in 2010 is not just a Microsoft phenomenon, but one significantly impacting Apple and Linux vendors as well.”

KACE’s top predictions for 2010 include:

1. Windows 7 will become first Windows OS to see widespread deployment even before release of its first service pack.

With the misstep of Vista, the vast majority of enterprises, both large and small, stayed with Windows XP as their operating system of choice, an operating system first released nine years ago. Organizations put off updating their Windows machines for as long as possible and now that Windows 7 has proved stable and is being favorably received by end users, the rush for IT organizations to update to Windows 7 will commence.

2. Mac OS X will make further inroads in the enterprise and will more than double its current market share.

Vista’s failure and the growing popularity of Apple technology at home has paved the way for Mac adoption to push beyond its toehold in the enterprise and be taken seriously as an alternative OS to Windows. With the advent of cross-platform management tools, more IT organizations are lifting their restrictions of support for non-Windows operating systems, allowing an increased freedom of choice. End users will respond and choose the technology with which they are familiar and have had positive experiences.

3. Virtual desktop technology (VDI) will continue to find only niche market uses; New “virtual composite workspaces” will emerge as a competing and more viable alternative.

VDI will meet limited success due to its complexity, expense and connectivity requirements. Virtual composite workspace technology, the unification and discrete management of the logical layers in the endpoint-computing stack will emerge as a preferred means for desktop virtualization. Because each layer (platform, application, data and user personality) is manageable and deployable discretely, virtual composite workspaces will deliver improved manageability along with increased accessibility and mobility for end users.

4. Security and management concerns will slow and dampen cloud computing euphoria; Cloud attached computing will supplant traditional thinking of cloud deployments.

Cloud services remain in their infancy with few broad production implementations. As more typical organizations seek to take advantage of cloud computing, they will need to grapple with issues surrounding data privacy, service level agreements, management capabilities, and more that will slow the adoption of the new computing paradigm. As result, they will increasingly turn to hybrid cloud and on-premise enterprise solutions.

5. Enterprises will see an overall decrease in desktop power consumption as new green IT-friendly hardware and software are deployed.

While the data center has been the main focus to date, desktop power consumption will become just as important as more and more organizations deploy new desktops and laptops with lower power consumption requirements and new power management technology that will allow them to reduce power usage through a wider range of power saving configurations.

6. IT organizations’ PC refresh cycles will spike this year, earlier than anticipated, due to mass Windows 7 adoption.

The global economic slowdown, coupled with the failure of Vista has driven many IT organizations to delay their normal PC refresh cycles. The new hardware requirements of Windows 7 will force organizations to accelerate their already pent-up demand for new desktops and laptops.

7. Setup.exe will become a legacy means to distribute applications.

As technologies such as application virtualization mature and Web applications continue to grow in popularity, the traditional method of software distribution will begin to quickly shift to a more vertical means.

8. Security vulnerabilities “attack zones” will shift to Web-based applications.

Traditionally, the principal point of attack by hackers has come from e-mail attachments. With the advent of e-mail security systems and increased end user awareness, the attacks will shift to popular Web-based services such as Facebook, Twitter and salesforce.com as hackers seek and find “holes” in these popular Web-based applications.

9. Multiple Mobile OS’ will delay effective device management in the enterprise.

Blackberry, iPhone, Palm and now Android-based mobile phones have become mission-critical business tools and have moved beyond simple e-mail, contacts and calendaring. For enterprise IT departments, mobile management is key, but the growing disparity of mobile OS’ and lack of standardization will hamper desired enterprise management.

10. Software vendors will roll out new tools and technologies to increase license audit capabilities.

The economic slowdown prompted both enterprise and consumer software vendors to increase license compliance audit activity and vigilance. These same vendors will increasingly develop increased audit capabilities directly into their products and deliver new tools to continue to more closely monitor and audit overall license usage.

These predictions are based on what KACE sees firsthand from systems management deployments across the globe and from the company’s more than 1,400 worldwide customers.

KACE saves its customers both time and money. Systems managers are increasingly forced to wear many hats throughout the day to work on a myriad of IT functions. KACE helps consolidate these functions by providing a single appliance for all projects, while delivering easy-to-use, comprehensive systems management that is affordable. The KBOX™ family of systems management and deployment appliances fulfills all of the systems management needs of an enterprise, from initial computer deployment to ongoing management and retirement.

About KACE™

KACE™ is the leading systems management appliance company. The award-winning KBOX™ family of appliances delivers easy-to-use, comprehensive systems management capabilities. KACE customers usually install in one day and enjoy the lowest total cost compared to software alternatives.

KACE is headquartered in Mountain View, California. To learn more about KACE and its product offerings, please visit http://www.kace.com or call 1-877-MGMT-DONE.

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