Frost & Sullivan Recognizes XCEND with 2012 Product Differentiation Excellence Award for MetriX IT Performance Dashboards

BRIGHTON, Mich., Aug. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the business intelligence market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes XCEND with the 2012 North American Product Differentiation Excellence Award in the Business Intelligence Dashboard Management Market. The company's flagship product, MetriX IT Performance Dashboards, earned a rating of "Excellent" across five research criteria that benchmarked the product against key business intelligence competitors.

As part of Frost & Sullivan's 2012 Best Practices Research Analysis, large- and medium-sized IT companies around the globe reported that they often utilize numerous management monitoring tools that generate vast amounts of data to assess organizations' overall performance. Even though these tools are equipped with reporting interfaces and dashboards, Frost & Sullivan notes that the data they produce is often operationally biased and rarely relevant to senior-level IT managers. Most of the time, IT managers are unaware of the data or metrics that would help them better manage their resources.

XCEND's MetriX IT Performance Dashboard product helps IT managers and key decision-makers overcome this challenge by gathering relevant information from multiple data sources and presenting it in an organized, comprehensive, and timely manner in order to facilitate proactive decision-making. MetriX3 offers technology leaders a real-time, business-centric view of IT operations, enabling them to increase the impact and strategic role of the IT organization.

"IT organizations and enterprises across the world are facing challenges in extracting meaningful information from the data available from the various monitoring solutions," said Frost & Sullivan Senior Research Analyst Srihari Padmanabhan. "MetriX enables managers to proactively manage IT resources and faults in the network by providing real-time visibility into the key performance metrics that matter most to IT managers."

Frost & Sullivan analysts noted that the key feature that differentiates MetriX from other leading dashboard management solutions is its extensive library of out-of-the-box dashboard templates and key performance indicators that enable IT managers to gain immediate visibility into their IT environment. Best-practice metrics are custom designed to serve key IT operations, such as software management, security, data loss prevention, and help desk management. Users also have the ability to create custom KPIs in a wide variety of charts, tables, and graphs, as well as to quickly and easily change query parameters and background themes.

In March 2012, XCEND introduced the most recently updated version of the solution, MetriX3, which includes a number of additional features. The customizable "My Dashboards" portal allows users to access their performance dashboards through any Web browser on a personal computer or a mobile device, regardless of operating system. The new version also incorporates advanced security management features that allow users to set restricted access parameters for different individuals or groups.

As part of its award analysis, Frost & Sullivan rated MetriX across a broad range of product differentiation criteria, including unique features and functionality, quality and complexity, potential for customization, ability to match to target market needs, and unique brand recognition. XCEND earned winning marks across each category, with Padmanabhan remarking: "Frost & Sullivan firmly believes that this solution's ability to offer a wide range of pre-built best practice KPIs and performance dashboards sets it apart from other dashboard management solutions. Considering its ability to offer such an innovative solution, we are pleased to present the 2012 Frost & Sullivan Product Differentiation Excellence Award to XCEND."

"We are proud and appreciative of Frost & Sullivan's recognition of our MetriX IT Performance Dashboard solution," said Ron Schoenherr, president and CEO of XCEND. "Frost & Sullivan has recognized the unique challenges that IT decision-makers face in trying to decrease costs, improve productivity, and reduce risks associated with security and compliance. Our MetriX3 technology is the most simple and cost-effective solution for providing real-time access to key IT performance indicators, allowing executives and managers to better manage the business of IT."

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.

About XCEND

As an award-winning Symantec Platinum partner, XCEND has earned a national reputation for best-in-class consulting and managed services. With the release of MetriX IT Performance Dashboards, we've translated this deep expertise into the development of specialized performance metrics and real-time dashboards for leading IT management solutions, empowering technology leaders to make performance-driven decisions in an information-driven world. Learn more at www.xcendgroup.com.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Learn more at http://www.frost.com.

Contact:
Stephanie Dionne
Director of Marketing
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(734) 926-9584

SOURCE XCEND Group