Intuit &#151 Putting the ‘I’ in IT?

Expanding on its line of Track-It help desk and asset management products, Intuit has announced a software program called Network Monitor. This set of tools helps IT and network managers monitor small and medium sized company networks in order to find and repair problems before they result in expensive down time.

According to David Weiss, vice president and general manager of Intuit technology solutions, a network failure typically costs $2,000. “Network Monitor will typically pay for itself with the first incident avoided,” he says. ”

The standard Network Monitor can tell you if a router isn’t working, whether performance has decreased and a host of other functions, some of which include:

• Monitor any IP networked device on your LAN
• Centrally monitor network ports, counters and services in real time
• Reduce problem resolution cycle times
• Monitor Windows NT operating system services and processes hosted by the
• operating system
• Restart a failed service or process, or send a failure notification
• Record events into NT and Network Monitor event log
• Sends e-mail and alpha or numeric page to alert administrators

The professional version provides the same features and functions as the standard program but also adds:

• Event log filtering and reporting capabilities
• Performance counter log
• Microsoft Web Server log analysis

Availability and Pricing
Available in the U.S. and Canada: the Standard Edition retails for $495 and the Professional edition sells for $995.

Intuit also announced Quicken 2005 and claims it’s added “over 100 customer-recommended improvements.” The new versions include:

• Quicken 2005 Basic: $29.95
• Quicken 2005 Deluxe: $59.95
• Quicken 2005 Premier: $79.95
• Quicken 2005 Premier Home & Business: $89.95

Lauren Simonds is the managing editor for SmallBusinessComputing.com