Spiceworks Network Monitor lands Linux monitoring, IT team collaboration, and custom alerting

Spiceworks has introduced a series of new features and functionality for its Network Monitor and cloud-based Help Desk solutions for IT professionals.

Network Monitor is a free application IT professionals at companies of all sizes can use to monitor and manage server and network devices in real-time. Network Monitor now gives IT professionals the ability to actively monitor Linux-based server environments, invite colleagues to view and create custom dashboards, fine-tune alert settings, and better understand communication issues associated with offline devices.

“We’re continuing to focus on the Network Monitor features and functionality, like Linux support, IT professionals have told us are important to them and add value to their day,” said Sanjay Castelino, VP of Marketing at Spiceworks. “Our intentions are clear. We’re accelerating our Network Monitor development efforts and building new apps to provide users with the solutions they need to get their jobs done.”

New Network Monitor capabilities include:
Linux monitoring capabilities to provide IT professionals the ability to stay up to date on the health of critical Linux-based servers. The new functionality allows users to monitor system processes and services, CPU utilization, memory latency and other system statistics of the most popular Linux distributions.
Multiple user support provides the ability for IT professionals to keep tabs on their environment together, limiting the possibility of a catastrophic failure.
Customised threshold editing and alerting enables IT professionals to fine tune when and how they are alerted by devices in their environment.
Online device communication warnings now alert IT professionals when Network Monitor is no longer able to communicate with a device that’s known to be online, allowing users to address the issue by changing security settings.

Cloud-based Help Desk Solution Now Available for Free

Spiceworks is also announcing that its cloud-based Help Desk application is now available to companies of all sizes for free. With Spiceworks’ cloud-based Help Desk, IT professionals can now deploy a solution built for them that includes all the capabilities they need with unlimited admin and end-user seats, no hosting or storage costs, ongoing updates, free support, and access to a Community of millions of peers.

“IT professionals have spoken loud and clear – they want great tools designed for them that just work,” said Nicole Tanzillo, director of help desk product marketing at Spiceworks. “Tools must be easy to deploy and use and allow IT professionals to spend less time on mundane tasks and more time supporting their organisations.”

With today’s announcement, IT professionals now have access to:

Custom dashboards give IT professionals an at-a-glance view of help desk operations to quickly understand what is happening within their environment.
Ticket auto-assignment helps IT professionals automate their help desk system with ticket rules that are capable of assigning tickets to specific technicians. As a result, IT professionals can spend more time addressing issues and less time managing tickets.
User portals enables end-users to submit help desk requests through a website instead of email with customised user portals that enable a more personalised experience for end-users and clients.

“We have four IT professionals using Spiceworks’ cloud-based Help Desk system to support 27 company locations across Arkansas and Missouri,” said Galen Ransone, IT technician at Greenway Equipment. “It’s clear the product was designed to meet the specific demands of IT professionals and it’s already proven effective in helping us support employees who need technology assistance. The fact it’s free makes it even more enticing.”

Spiceworks also introduced a new beta version of its mobile application for on-the-go professionals interested in managing their cloud-based Help Desk through Google Android- and Apple iOS-based tablets and smartphones.