Network Automation has released a new version of AutoMate, software that lets you automate processes without writing any code. "AutoMate 7 is our biggest upgrade in terms of raw new features" said Dustin Snell, CEO of Network Automation.
AutoMate 7 features more than 70 new actions, bringing the total number to more than 230. Actions tell AutoMate how to carry out a task. The actions new to version 7 include:
- Web services actions. You can use the Web services actions to automate such tasks as listening for and sending Web service Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) requests.
- Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Outlook actions. You can use these actions to automate Exchange- and Outlook-related tasks, such as sending email and entering contacts.
- Active Directory (AD) actions. You can use the AD actions to automate most AD operations, including creating, modifying, renaming, deleting, moving, and listing AD accounts and objects.
You use the Task Builder GUI to select the actions you want AutoMate to perform, dragging and dropping them into the order they should be executed. The enhanced Task Builder in version 7 includes a customizable Available Actions list, filtering capabilities when searching for a desired action, a stack viewer, and find-and-replace functionality.
After you're done automating a task, you can schedule it to run. You can configure tasks to run according to a schedule or when a trigger (i.e., a condition or event) occurs. Besides supporting such triggers as Windows event-log entries, specific error prompts, and disk-usage thresholds, AutoMate 7 supports Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) triggers. "You can now check for any condition that WMI checks for," said Snell.
Although Network Automation has upgraded AutoMate 7's features and functionality, it hasn't upgraded its price. "We're trying to keep AutoMate accessible to businesses," noted Snell, "so version 7 is the same price as version 6." Current customers with a maintenance plan will get the upgrade for free. For more information about AutoMate 7, contact Network Automation at 213-738-1700 or 888-786-4796, or go to the Network Automation website.
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