SmartDeploy

With budget cuts, we've had to stop doing massive system refreshes and are now purchasing smaller amounts of systems as funds become available. We are a Dell house, but due to the new purchasing strategy we are getting a more diverse set of Dell models. Fortunately, for us, SmartDeploy has allowed us to tackle that diversity by use a single common image for about 12 different models (which include desktops/laptops and tablets). We only have 1 image to maintain, instead of 12, and if we get a 13th model, then we simply download the PPK (package of specific drivers) from SmartDeploy, add that to our image package and off we go. That is what we like most about this product, but there are a plethora of other items that has made SmartDeploy a huge success. We chose SmartDeploy about 4 years ago, after researching and comparing it in live tests with Symantec and Acronis. We had it up and running in production in about a day. Thanks to a very logical image creation and deployment process, we created a VM using VM Workstation, downloaded the necessary PPK's (driver packages) for the specific machines we had a need to image, and then created a USB stick which contained all necessary image components. Within 30 minutes, we had imaged 3 different models and realized our imaging problems from before were over. What a beautiful thing.

Would like to be able to snap an image of an existing system and save for re-deployment. To my knowledge, that option has not been made available....yet.

The product is easy to use and the ability to automatically connect to a WiFi network on deployment is a great feature

Sometimes devices do not get joined to the network for whatever reason. Also, you cannot have computers named in sequence upon deployment, instead they are automatically given random numbers. Unlike Acronis, which I could input computer names to be Laptop-Department{15} and it would named the computers Laptop-Department15, Laptop-Department16, Laptop-Department17, etc. SmartDeploy randomizes the number sequence. So, when you input the naming convention as Laptop-DepartmentXX, it names the device Laptop-Department84, Laptop-Department25, Laptop-Department40, etc. There is no sequence or logic to the number section. Additionally, you still have to do some prep work by making some changes in the Bios on newer machines in order to get the software to image to it. Also, when you select to log into an account after imaging, it seems that it creates a local account for the profile instead of using the domain account and then it does not join to the domain.

Being able to generate a single VM image and distribute it to hundreds of different computers (manufacturers and models) is revolutionary. Other software I've used requires you to have an image created on each type of physical hardware. This means you have to manage multiple images and have a spare of each type of computer just to maintain the system.

There are several deployment methods (USB drives, local network, cloud-based) that all work really well. When using the USB drive method, there isn't an easy way to update the boot software (e.g. WinPE) on the device or distribute new USB media. Shipping the USB drives works but is slow and expensive. Having the coworker at the remote office create a new USB drive is difficult because you have to walk them through installing the enterprise software which I don't necessarily want them to have access to. However, this is not undermining the huge benefits we see from using SmartDeploy.

Our deployment system is consistent now
Customer service is responsive when there are issues

We are a static IP shop and SmartDeploy is ideal for DHCP so we are not as able to use the unattended features but we have 350 PCs across our entire environment so it's not a deal-breaker at all
Customer Service is in Portland and we're in Chicago - 2 hour delay if I have issues in the AM