AUSTIN, TX--(Marketwire - Sep 19, 2012) - SolarWinds (NYSE: [ SWI ]), a leading provider of powerful and affordable [ IT management software ], today released the results of a survey on patch management, and introduced the latest version of SolarWinds Patch Manager, its automated [ patch management software ] solution.

The survey*, which compiles the responses of over 130 IT professionals, revealed that IT pros spend a substantial amount of time manually patching.

• Almost half of the respondents said their organizations deploy patches one at a time.
• On average, 46 percent said it takes three or more hours per patch to research, script and test third-party patches.
• 23 percent of respondents reported that once the patch has been vetted, a single patch takes up to two to three days to deploy; 13 percent said four to five days and 17 percent said six to seven days.

"Time is a luxury most IT professionals don't have, yet inhibiting critical vulnerabilities through patching is something they can't ignore," said Denny LeCompte, vice president of products, SolarWinds. "In the past, patch concerns were primarily about fixing bugs in the product, but organizations not applying security patches to Windows, Flash, Java, and many other third party apps are now prime targets for infestations."

• Over 20 percent of respondents said they had experienced security incidents in the past year that could have been prevented by timely patching.
• 50 percent of those respondents encountered service downtime and consequent revenue blows, 33 percent lost time recovering systems, 3 percent experienced data theft, and 3 percent saw viruses spread.

Designed to help IT pros protect servers, networks and applications against unknown vulnerabilities and pass patch compliance audits, SolarWinds Patch Manager automates the patch management process. This saves IT pros valuable time and resources by making it easy for users to perform third-party patch management, and take advantage of and extend the capabilities of Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or System Center Configuration Manager to report, deploy, and manage third-party and Microsoft patches.

"It used to take four hours per patch for packaging and testing and about a week to deploy each patch," said Jay Harper, IT network administrator at Terminix Service, Inc. "In our experience, it now takes an hour tops with Patch Manager; it is incredible."

What's New in SolarWinds Patch Manager:

• Direct interoperability with the Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2012 and 2007 consoles, with detailed views of third-party application patches and statuses of patch updates for all endpoints
• Integration with SolarWinds' IT management solutions including Network Performance Monitor (NPM), Server & Application Monitor (SAM) and Synthetic End-User Monitor (SeUM) for adjacent viewing of important patch management data like the latest available patches and top 10 missing patches

"Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2012 works with SolarWinds to help customers keep third-party applications patched, up to date, and secure," said Raul Gonzalez, Senior Business Development Manager, Microsoft Corp. "And this capability is available directly from the Software Library page of the System Center Configuration Manager console."

PatchZone.org for Microsoft and Third-Party Patch Updates, Tips and Peer-to-Peer Discussion

[ PatchZone ], a space within the SolarWinds online community, thwack, serves as a comprehensive collection of information focused on patch management and serves as a destination for IT pros to come together with their peers and industry experts to share answers surrounding which applications are most vulnerable; which updates they need to apply and when; how to implement patch management on a tight budget; why patching third party applications is so important; lessons learned; and more.

In addition to the SolarWinds Patch Management team, a number of industry expert bloggers offer their expertise and insight into important patching issues, supplying IT pros with direct, informed solutions.

Pricing and Availability

Pricing for SolarWinds Patch Manager starts at $2,995. For more information on Patch Manager or to download a free 30-day evaluation, visit the SolarWinds website or call 866.530.8100.

*The SolarWinds survey was conducted on August 9 through August 30, 2012 via an online survey service, resulting in over 130 survey responses. SolarWinds awarded one (1) survey participant a $500.00 Apple gift card with the approximate retail value of $500.00 USD in a random drawing of all entries received.

Additional Resources:

Video: [ 3rd Party Application Patching with System Center Configuration Manager Using Patch Manager ]
Video: [ SolarWinds Patch Manager online demonstration featuring IT management solutions integration ]

About SolarWinds
SolarWinds (NYSE: [ SWI ]) provides powerful and affordable IT management software to customers worldwide from Fortune 500 enterprises to small businesses. In all of our market areas, our approach is consistent. We focus exclusively on IT Pros and strive to eliminate the complexity that they have been forced to accept from traditional enterprise software vendors. SolarWinds delivers on this commitment with unexpected simplicity through products that are easy to find, buy, use and maintain while providing the power to address any IT management problem on any scale. Our solutions are rooted in our deep connection to our user base, which interacts in our online community, [ thwack ], to solve problems, share technology and best practices, and directly participate in our product development process. Learn more today at [ http://www.solarwinds.com/ ].

SolarWinds, SolarWinds.com and thwack are registered trademarks of SolarWinds. All other company and product names mentioned are used only for identification purposes and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.