Vallum Software, GMI Foundation Announce the Vallum Application Exchange, a Marketplace of Paid and Freeware Applications Built On an Open Source, Agent-based Framework
Naples, FL (PRWEB) December 19, 2013 -- Vallum Software, the leader in end-point management solutions to the SMB market, today announced the general availability of the Vallum Application Exchange or VAX. VAX apps are offered as both freeware and paid-licenses and follow a pricing model that targets SMBs but with enough functionality to work in an enterprise environment.
The VAX currently hosts 11 applications that monitor over 100 vital IT health statistics in distributed server environments. The GMI Agent framework consists of a low resource utilization agent (less than 100k in size) and a simple syntax command line manager that installs in just a few seconds. One server administrator armed with the GMI Agent Framework can deploy the agent on thousands of devices and monitor statistics or update the devices from a single location, with just a few simple keystrokes.
“From a development perspective, our goal was to build an agent-based monitoring system that was highly functional and that would take up minimal resources,” said Lance Edelman, Vallum Software co-founder and product director. “Agent-based technology should be the preferred method for querying and updating (IT assets), but somewhere along the way, agents turned into bloatware.”
Edelman added further that the Vallum GMI agent download package (http://www.gmi-foundation.org/downloads/) is a mere 200k while some competing agent-based downloads are up to 200 megabytes large. The problem, he posits, is adding code to already poorly designed code for bugs and fixes, ending in layers of code fixes on top of one another causing agent-based bloatware.
“The concept ‘software agent’ has taken a bad rap over the years because initial builds were poorly-designed and subsequent fix attempts created layers of clunk,” Edelman said. “And agent-less technologies that use SNMP and WMI are not the answer because of their security vulnerabilities and code complexities. From the beginning, our goal has been to make the Vallum GMI Agent as streamlined as possible so that when we add apps to the agent framework, there is a high level of security and functionality in a very small footprint. This also keeps the cost of application development low and makes Vallum/GMI apps very appealing to the SMB space.”
The Vallum GMI Agent can be downloaded from either the VAX or the GMI-Foundation website. The GMI-Foundation distributes the GMI Agent Framework at no cost. The framework contains a protocol that is an agent-based system, with open API, and standard set of command-line utilities that permits an authorized user to query and control a remote platform from a single console. For more information on the GMI-Foundation, please visit http://gmi-foundation.org.
About Vallum Software
Vallum Software, LLC is a provider of end point IT network management solutions that deliver wide functionality across a narrow footprint. Vallum has partnered with the GMI-Foundation, a consortium of software developers, to provide the GMI-Agent, a universal software agent delivered in a fully-exposed and encrypted application program interface (API) with complete documentation and support. Vallum Software, The GMI-Foundation, and 3rd party developers distribute applications built on the GMI Agent Framework through the Vallum Application Exchange or VAX in both a freeware and paid license model. The Vallum GMI-Agent contains an open API and there is no charge to download and use the agent. Developers may also download the open API package at no charge from the GMI-Foundation website.
Tony Perri, dir. biz dev, Vallum Software LLC, http://vallumsoftware.com, +1 813-618-3301, [email protected]
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