Introducing Tanium Deploy

Deploy software with unparalleled speed and scale

Today, we added to the breadth of operations capabilities that Tanium delivers with the introduction of Tanium Deploy. Along with Tanium Patch, Tanium Asset and Tanium Discover, Tanium Deploy opens the next front in the fight against fragmented approaches to the many mission-critical tasks required of IT operations.

Tanium Deploy uses the speed, visibility and control of the Tanium platform and architecture to streamline software management. This new module simplifies software management functions including install, update and removal activities.

One of the many benefits of working with Tanium customers each day is seeing their massive networks in action. In these sorts of environments, accurate hardware and software inventory can be a colossal challenge. Sadly, for those who have not deployed Tanium, they might even struggle to answer a fundamental question like, “how many computers do I have on my network?” Unfortunately, these sorts of underlying issues are relevant to nearly every organization.

Beyond the lack of foundational hardware and software inventory, what troubles me is the complexity created by numerous software title and version combinations. In one particular customer with less than 30,000 endpoints, I saw over 100,000 such combinations! Despite having numerous software deployment tools and methods, the company failed to update software or remove unused titles effectively. The result, a significant number of outdated and potentially vulnerable systems. Each of these systems becomes a potential entry point for a security incident or source of operational disruption. Not to mention the financial impact of continuing to pay for unused software licenses.

Why do mature organizations, such as the company in this example, struggle with basic endpoint software management? The reality was that the tools they trusted were too fragmented and too ineffective at scale. The resulting complexity of software titles and version sprawl only made matters worse. And the hole they had dug themselves into over the years meant there was no recovery. They needed a better way.

Enter Tanium Deploy

With Tanium Deploy, we’re removing yet another point tool from the mix and increasing the clarity and control you have over your environment. Here’s how it works:

Big things come in small packages: Tanium Deploy enables creation and organization of software packages. Each package defines applicability rules used to determine upgrade eligibility as well as other critical metadata. Each managed system routinely evaluates against the Tanium Deploy list of available software packages.

Choose your own adventure: Install, Update, or Remove. Each install operation can contain one or more “operation commands” with simple error handling. Each deploy operation will execute the defined operation commands in the sequence specified.

Don’t interrupt: No administrator wants to disrupt the business. With Tanium Deploy, no package installation or deployment will occur outside of defined time windows.

This is only a start. Tanium Deploy will quickly add new features as we continue to work closely with our customers. With each new Tanium Product Module added to an existing deployment, organizations make a leap forward in reducing complexity and fragmentation left by decades of point-tool deployments.

Interested in seeing Tanium in action? Schedule a one-to-one demo or attend our weekly webinar. Talk to our Tanium experts at our upcoming events.

About the Author: Pete Constantine leads product management of the IT Operations portfolio at Tanium, where his focus and passion is shaping new product modules and bringing them to market. Pete has held numerous technical positions in IT Operations, virtualization and Systems Management.