Swimage leverages the strengths of both SCCM and SMS by enhancing and simplifying their deployment capabilities in the following ways:
- Advanced Workflow: Swimage provides an advanced workflow engine that steps the project lead or manager through the deployment process.
- Single Management Console: Swimage has a simple web portal for all access that allows deployment technicians to manage all aspects of an OS deployment for those without access to the SCCM console.
- Automated Image Management: Swimage has a fully automated process for defining, creating, and maintaining the binary images.
- Image Layering: Swimage leads the industry in the imaging process. We pioneered and perfected dynamic image layering techniques. Dynamic layering transforms the thin-image technique to allow individual role-based applications and settings to be applied per computer, fully automated.
- Data Protection: Swimage adds sophisticated and proprietary processes for data protection, providing several layers of data protection, including 1) full integration with USMT 2) 100% protection of both known and unknown data, 3) proprietary process for encapsulating data and imaging around it, saving significant time copying data, 4) 3-minute rollback to previous operating system regardless of drive size, 5) support for data protection and in-place migration for full-drive encryption without decryption necessary.
- Hardware Driver Interrogator: Swimage simplifies the driver provisioning process through our unique process in which we can extract needed drives directly off working computers in the environment.
- Active Deployment dashboard: Swimage provides a detailed and interactive dashboard that lists every deployment activity as it occurs, real-time, regardless of how the deployment is initiated. This interactive dashboard allows technicians to resolve issues remotely without dispatch, (even if the problem occurs in the WinPE phase).
- Deployment Validation and Dry-run:
Swimage provides a pre-deployment validation that runs through all deployment steps at defined intervals prior to the actual deployment to ensure that all necessary components are in place ahead of time.
- Application Matching: Swimage can automatically reinstall application based in inventory matching rules to ensure that any critical application is always reinstalled and available for the users when deployments occur.