Aberdeen: Global 5000 Deploying Automated Patch Management

Automated patch management is being used by a growing segment of the Global 5000 according to an Aberdeen survey released this week. The survey, commissioned by software firm PatchLink, shows that patch management has moved beyond the early adopter phase. "Even conservative organizations that shy away from anything new are using [it]," the report notes. Among the findings:

* Patching activities for servers, desktops, and notebooks are typically managed in groups of fewer than 2,500, so scalability may not be as much of a concern as some reports had suggested.

* Agents are needed to support laptops connected to enterprise networks.

* The most effective patch management approach is to use caching devices to preserve WAN bandwidth for business applications and information.