With 100 computers, many of which are servers, some are virtualized, how much Professional Services would be needed for deploying Configuration Manager? I have some Linux servers etc. I'd like to do some raw metal imaging, software license management, Linux patch deployment/management. I understand Dell's Kace is plug and play. I hear CA's Unicenter, Flexera and HP's OpenView all have solid products. How do these products compare to SCCM and Configuration manager? Price is somewhat of a concern.

Hi, For price information you should call Licensing helpdesk - http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/contact-us.aspx For a product overview check out the Systemcenter homepage - http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/en/us/configuration-manager.aspx Here you will find highlevel information about benefits, features and also case studies.Kent Agerlund | http://scug.dk/members/Agerlund/default.aspx | The Danish community for System Center products

Persoanlly I wouldn't consider SCCM for a shop with 100 computers. Look at System Center Essentials or Opalis for managing them and MDT for OSD. SCCM is designed to be an enterprise product. It requires someone to manage it that really knows what they are doing and those people are not cheap. John Marcum | http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/jmarcum |

Also, you can read following link to plan your SCCM. Getting Started with Configuration Manager 2007 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb694263.aspx Hope it helps.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.