Is the date, don't remember if it is the 20th but around there.

CMDB 7 will release at the same time.

Drop me a note if you or your company woud like a demo.  We at ITS have been doing demos since the beta came out.

ServiceDesk 7 is currently scheduled to ship at the end of August.  CMDB 7 is scheduled for release in the next week or so.  Here is some licensing info:

How will ServiceDesk licensing be handled?

Customers on Helpdesk AUP will be given credit for the products that are already purchased and supported.
For new customers, a ‘Base Product’ license will be required for all Service Desk installations. It includes 5 concurrent Analyst Seats, 1 concurrent CMDB seat and all workflow server and designer components needed to run the full ServiceDesk functionality.

The Analyst Seat license allows for editing of tickets as well as the workflows used within ServiceDesk. Note: only the ‘out of box’ ITIL processes developed by Symantec will run on the ServiceDesk server. If additional workflows are needed, then the customer must purchase a Workflow license. Any user will be able to create an incident or change request, browse the Knowledge Base, run reports and perform a number of other functions without consuming a license.

Additional Analyst Seat licenses or CMDB licenses can be purchased through the Single Analyst Seat or CMDB SKUs.

Right now SD 7 is in closed beta adn I have to admit it works pretty good. I have been testing for the last 2 weeks. It comes with a Workflow Designer which you need if you want to do some customizations like Forms, SLA's, Routing rules, email templates etc.

Drop me a note if you would like more info.

Thanks for the info...If its going to be GA by the end of the month, then where can i get whitepapers on it?  Why has Symantec not said anything formally?  I spoke to a couple of sales reps last week and they said it might not even be out this year?

Don't know where all the information is, I know there hasn't been a lot.  Service desk is comming out end of August from everything I've heard.  Sorry that I can't help you with more information.

Drop me a note if you want to see a demo

Here is some hardware and OS requirements:

NS 7 where the Service Desk solution gets installed together with the CMDB, the Service Desk solution is basic for the install files and licensing.

SQL server, SQL 2005 SP2, can be 64-bit if seperate or if installed on the actual Service Desk server, if the SQL server resides on the NS then 32-bit is your only option since the current NS doesn't support 64-bit.

Service Desk server, Windows 2003 64-bit, Multi core Cpu's, 8 GB RAM minimum, 16 GB is recommended.

Hopefully this helps to plan ahead for Hardware

 Helloe everybody,

I got information from Symantec reps that the release date of Helpdesk Solution 7 will be 28th of August 2009. The Service and Asset Management Solution is scheduled for December 2009.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mustafa Abdel-Aziz

Hi Andrew, I had a follow up question on your note.

Our consultant Rob who also posted here has been getting us all ready for ServiceDesk 7.
We have been impressed with what we've seen and the testing we've done so far.
It is getting close so a lot of our customers are asking more specific questions now.

To follow up on your note, we have some conflicting information regarding Workflow.
If a ServiceDesk 7 customer decides they need additional workflows and want to purchase a Workflow license.......will Basic be sufficient or is Advanced needed ? Are there any other nuances to the new licensing that are important to share with customers?

Any additional information will be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks.

FRANK
EXPRESSABILITY
ffleming@expressability.com

 Hello Frank,

Workfow 7 is much more simple than Workflow 6.  Workflow "Basic" is what is now included in the Symantec Management Platform - for FREE.  It allows you to build workflows that connect technologies built on the platform (i.e. Patch, Software Delivery, Inventory, etc.).  If a customer would like to build workflows that connect to external systems (such as SAP, an HR system, etc.) then they will need to purchase Workflow 7 Solution.  It's that simple - they can use the free version that is available out-of-the-box or "upgrade" to the full-blow Workflow Solution.

Hope this helps,

Andrew

Andrew,

Does that mean that with Service Desk 7, I am allowed to create a Workflow, like for instance a new hire process, which is just an internal workflow, no connections to external systems and make that availeble in the process manager service catalog?

Yes, that is correct.

I have to retract that previous statement.  With ServiceDesk 7, you will need a Workflow Solution license in order to make your workflow available through the process manager service catalog.

With the "basic" Workflow functionality will allow you to create workflows and publish them to IIS and make them available to the NS, however, you will not be able to make it available in the process manager service catalog.  Again, that would require a full Workflow Solution license.

I apologize for the confusion. 

Here is a link to some product information, I think it was published yesterday.

 hmmm, still waiting on service desk ... was told it was going to release today ... i guess we will see what happens on Monday 

The system requirements on the Symantec page are fairly vague, and even suggest this can run on 32-bit as well as 64-bit Windows Server OS? 

I've heard rumors that this product isn't something you can just try out on test kit, that you need top-end kit with tonnes of dedicated resource to get started. I can't find yet any mention though of memory/processor requirements.

And, err... if the above is true, our server capital expenses purchased last year to resource us through to 2011 might turn out to be embarrasingly underbudgeted.... ;-)

Kind Regards,
Ian./

P.S. As an aside -surprised to see on the information presented that SQL Server 2008 isn't supported yet, or even SQL 2005 SP3.

Ian,

The actual Service Desk server will need 64-bit, multicore CPU's and a minimum of 8 GB, 16 Gb recommended.
The SQL server can be 32 or 64-bit depending if you run it seperatly (32 or 64-bit), on the actual Service Desk server (64-bit) or on the NS 7 server (32-bit).

Hi, the gived date from the webconf SD7 (Service Desk 7) launch  is 4th September ! Nice presentation from Australia, thanks Simone.

 Having taken part in the Beta testing program, the installation for SD7 is different to that which we are used to as it goes via the SIM application and as such requires and tests that the host machine meets minimum requirements. During the beta the minimum memory for the SD7 Server was 12GB and so attempting to install on a server with less would not be authorised.

Is Service Desk 7 released yet?  

Well, we are the 4th september, and I see nothing more than last week in there, perhaps the time clock is not enough, I will wait 8 more hours...
;-)
http://www.symantec.com/business/service-desk

It has been released, make sure to update your product listing in the Symantec Installation Manager. Then under filters select "none" and it will show up. I started the download a few minutes ago.

Also, some documentation is now posted at

http://www.altiris.com/Support/Documentation.aspx

Scroll down to ServiceDesk.

I'm going to read before downloading anything Rob :-)

Then again you were on the beta and are way out ahead of me so go for it.

FRANK

64-bit?  Preferred 16 gigs of ram?  This new Service Desk had better be pretty impressive.