Vista Adoption Stymied Despite SP1

New Survey Finds Apple Benefits From "Vista Avoidance" as
Heterogeneous Environments Become Increasingly Common
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
KACE(TM), the leading systems management appliance company, today
announced results from a recent survey that revealed 60 percent of the
IT administrators polled have no plans to deploy Vista -- almost 10
percent more than originally reported in the November 2007 survey on
the same topic. In response to concerns about unwanted complexity to
their IT environments, 42 percent of IT administrator respondents said
they would consider deployment of alternative operating systems, such
as Mac OS and Linux, in order to avoid a migration to Vista, and 92
percent said the release of Vista Service Pack 1 has not changed their
plans for Vista deployment. The survey results showed the Mac
operating system as the most likely alternative operating system to be
deployed.

The research, consisting of an online survey with over 1,100 IT
manager respondents, was conducted by King Research and commissioned
by KACE to gather data about the perceived impact of Vista on IT
administration and specifically about operating system adoption
strategies in business environments. The research shows that IT
departments of all sizes have growing concerns about deploying Vista,
and are even choosing to deploy alternative operating systems instead.
This trend has lead to a new set of challenges, such as the
difficulties derived from managing multiple operating systems and a
lack of familiarity with non-Windows alternative operating systems.

"The second version of the Vista Adoption Trends survey clearly
demonstrates Microsoft is still fighting an uphill battle with Vista
and the release of Vista Service Pack 1 did little to change corporate
opinion about the operating system," said Diane Hagglund of King
Research and the survey's author. "These same IT departments are
evaluating alternative methods to stave off Vista deployment with many
moving to the Mac operating system instead. This brings up a whole new
set of challenges related to managing heterogeneous environments and
compounds the importance of systems management devices that deliver a
single interface for diverse operating systems."

A summary of the key findings from the survey include:

-- 60 percent of the survey respondents indicated they have no
plans to deploy Vista at this time, up from 53 percent in the
2007 survey;

-- 92 percent indicated Vista Service Pack 1 has not changed
their plans for Vista deployment;

-- 65 percent said it is challenging to obtain the expertise
needed to manage multiple operating systems, up from 49
percent in November 2007;

-- 83 percent revealed they are concerned about the compatibility
of required business software with Vista;

-- 41 percent of the respondents reported it is challenging to
secure multiple operating systems, up from 25 percent in
November 2007.

Understanding the need to manage complexity within heterogeneous
IT environments, KACE offers an appliance-based approach that allows
IT administrators to cost-effectively manage a variety of operating
systems from the ease of a single management interface. The KBOX(TM)
family of systems management and deployment appliances fulfill all of
the systems management needs of a medium enterprise from initial
computer deployment to ongoing management and retirement, allowing IT
departments to save considerable time and money by deploying and
managing all types of operating systems.

"This King Research study suggests that businesses continue to
hold off on broad-based Windows adoption due to compatibility,
performance, and training concerns," said Rob Meinhardt, co-founder
and CEO of KACE. "This delay in Vista adoption is leaving the window
open longer for Mac and Linux to sneak onto the corporate desktop.
Consequently, we're seeing increased demand for our KBOX products to
solve cross-platform systems management challenges."

The full report, titled "Windows Vista Adoption Trends: A Survey
of Technology Professionals," is available at:
http://www.kace.com/pdf/AR-King-Vista-Survey-2.php. The original
report, conducted in November 2007, is available at
http://www.kace.com/pdf/index_vista_survey.php.

Survey Methodology

An independent database of IT professionals from small, mid-sized,
and large IT organizations were emailed and invited to participate in
the Web survey. The first survey took place in November 2007 and the
second in June 2008. The 1,162 participants in the June 2008 survey
were not compensated for participation (nor were they in the November
2007 survey) and represent a wide range of IT functions including
hands-on professionals, team managers, and business owners with many
participants indicating they had multiple roles within their
organizations.

About KACE(TM)

KACE(TM) is the leading systems management appliance company. The
award-winning KBOX(TM) 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.

Helpful Links

-- KBOX Systems Management Appliances
(http://www.kace.com/products/kbox1000.php)

-- KBOX Systems Deployment Appliances
(http://www.kace.com/products/kbox2000.php)

-- Virtual KBOX Appliances (http://www.kace.com/V-KBOX)

Kulesa PR
Cathy Wright, 650-340-1985
cathy@kulesapr.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008