Altiris, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATRS), a pioneer of IT lifecycle management solutions that reduce the total cost of owning IT resources, today announced specialized IT asset management software to help IT organizations maintain real-time technology asset inventory and financial transparency to support corporate Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. Altiris® Asset Management Suite™ 6.0 now includes numerous specialized reports that uncover trends within IT asset inventory that can indicate unauthorized use or disposition of assets, depreciation, unnecessary expense or asset waste.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was passed by the U.S. Congress to drive public company accounting reform and ultimately protect investors. In particular, SOX Section 404 requires management to assess and report on the adequacy of internal controls over financial reporting. SOX legislation makes company executives personally responsible for their firm’s financial reporting integrity and enacts civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance.
As a publicly traded company, Altiris itself is in the process of meeting SOX 404 compliance regulations. Volker Wiora, Altiris VP of information systems, said, “The Altiris corporate compliance team has outlined Sarbanes-Oxley 404 reporting requirements specific to our IT department to ensure we have implemented proper controls. Altiris IT asset management solutions are being used to discover and track the acquisition, use and disposition of IT assets, automate reporting, and validate controls for use in supporting IT-related SOX requirements.”
According to Forrester research, in 2003, 17 out of 20 CFOs indicated that the new SOX regulation had a minimal impact on spending plans. But a year later, buyers appear to be taking the regulation more seriously. Earlier in 2004, Forrester surveyed 878 technology decision-makers at North American companies with at least 1,000 employees regarding their IT adoption plans. Of the 52% of respondents that must comply with the regulation, 77% will boost their spending on at least one type of technology to support compliance.*
Poul Nielsen, Altiris VP of marketing and product strategy, said, “Analyst research shows in coming years, IT expenses will represent almost 50 percent of enterprise capital budgets. Therefore, IT organizations may have a significant responsibility within the framework of Sarbanes-Oxley reporting. IT organizations implementing Altiris IT asset management technologies and best practices will be better prepared for impending SOX requests and requirements.
“SOX reporting deadlines are fast approaching, with many companies required to report on internal controls in their annual reports for fiscal years ending on or after November 15, 2004. Compliance is not an option and stiff penalties may loom for responsible individuals within organizations that don’t comply.”
Altiris Asset Management Suite helps an IT organization proactively address SOX requirements by discovering and tracking inventory, and determining how it is being used and how much it costs. Altiris software also helps ensure accuracy of IT asset data within financial systems, control and document IT activities and proactively manage key IT systems to help maintain their availability, security and accuracy.
According to Gartner research, “IT asset management is mandatory to minimize risk and ensure compliance with new and differing government regulations, legislation and intellectual property issues. It is an ongoing business process that constantly provides information that enables management to make tactical and strategic decisions about the enterprise and the level of risk it wants to assume. Enterprises that systematically manage the life cycle of their IT assets will reduce the cost per asset by as much as 30 percent in the first year, and between 5 percent and 10 percent annually in the next five years (0.8 probability).”**
In addition to Altiris active IT asset management’s support of corporate Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, Altiris software helps:
- Improve business practices, drive positive change and elevate the role of IT within an organization
- Create a foundational understanding of your IT environment
- Build more accurate IT purchasing budgets, control spending, track depreciation and detect potential fraud
- Deliver automatic alerts of changes to the asset infrastructure
- Analyze IT controls and environment changes via real-time Web-based reports
Altiris will provide a free Webinar on Wednesday, June 23 from 2:00 – 3:00 pm EDT to discuss how Altiris active IT asset management solutions can help IT organizations proactively address the demands of corporate Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. To attend, please register at: http://www.ifc10.com/ets/clk.asp?24001X1M0
About Altiris
Altiris, Inc. is a pioneer of IT lifecycle management software that allows IT organizations to easily manage desktops, notebooks, thin clients, handhelds, industry-standard servers, and heterogeneous software including Windows, Linux and UNIX. Altiris automates and simplifies IT projects throughout the life of an asset to reduce the cost and complexity of management. Altiris client and mobile, server, and asset management solutions natively integrate via a common Web-based console and repository. For more information, visit www.altiris.com
Note on Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, including the statements regarding projected IT spending, including costs related to Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ, including, but not limited to, the inaccurate assessment of the requirements and costs of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, adverse changes in IT spending trends, a general downturn in economic conditions, the inaccurate assessment of market acceptance of our products, errors in our products, and such other risks as identified in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2004 and from time to time in other reports filed by Altiris with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Altiris is a registered trademark of Altiris, Inc. in the U.S. and in other countries. Asset Management Suite is a trademark of Altiris, Inc. The other company names or products mentioned are or may be trademarks of their respective owners.
* Forrester Research, Inc., “IT Execs Wake Up To Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance,” Nicholas Wilkoff, May 28, 2004.
** Gartner, Inc., “Use IT Asset Management to Mitigate Enterprise Risks,” Frances O’Brien, June 10, 2004. |