Inspired by the communal wisdom generated on sites like Wikipedia.com, Klir Technologies launched an IT management product Monday intended for system administrators at small and medium businesses.Klir Analytics 3.0 beta allows IT users to publish and share their own favorite fixes, using a software-as-a-service (SAAS) business model. Over time, the most successful software will garner the best ratings, just as the most popular photographs get top billing at Flickr.com, said James Maiocco, Klir’s chief executive officer.Klir, of Seattle, hopes to gain the most users at companies that are too small for the Fortune 2000 list, where large corporations get their IT services from long-term contracts with BMC Software, CA, Hewlett-Packard and IBM, he said.Maiocco is betting that IT managers at small companies would rather get customized service, picking their own products with a buffet-meal approach enabled by Web 2.0 technologies. Using a distributed work model is also more efficient than centralized call centers, since 50 percent of help-desk calls relate to bugs that have already been addressed by patches and release notes, he said. Fewer than 500 people use Klir Analytics 3.0 today, but Klir began distributing a free, entry-level version in August, hoping to enlist 1,000 users and push their results into statistical relevancy. Once that happens, the company will roll out quantitative benchmarking of IT products and services, based on users’ reports on applications, bandwidth, networks and servers.Dell launched a similar product in June with its Platinum Plus IT services offering, a dashboard that uses maps from Google Earth to let IT managers track problems and compare their results with other companies. However, Dell’s product is for companies with at least 100 servers, while Klir Analytics subscriptions start at US$108 per month to manage 10 devices. A closer competitor may be Splunk, a San Francisco company backed by CA whose software lets system administrators search through data on applications, devices and services, then share their troubleshooting advice in a community wiki.-Ben Ames, IDG News Service (Boston Bureau)Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content brandpost Sponsored by SAP What goes well with Viña Concha y Toro wines? Meat, fish, poultry, and SAP Viña Concha y Toro, a wine producer that distributes to more than 140 countries worldwide, paired its operation with the SAP Business Technology Platform to enhance its operation and product. By Tom Caldecott, SAP Contributor Dec 04, 2023 4 mins Digital Transformation brandpost Sponsored by Azul How to maximize ROI by choosing the right Java partner for your organization Choosing the right Java provider is a critical decision that can have a significant impact on your organization’s success. By asking the right questions and considering the total cost of ownership, you can ensure that you choose the best Java p By Scott Sellers Dec 04, 2023 5 mins Application Management brandpost Sponsored by DataStax Ask yourself: How can genAI put your content to work? Generative AI applications can readily be built against the documents, emails, meeting transcripts, and other content that knowledge workers produce as a matter of course. By Bryan Kirschner Dec 04, 2023 5 mins Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence feature The CIO’s new role: Orchestrator-in-chief CIOs have unique insight into everything that happens in a company. Some are using that insight to take on a more strategic role. By Minda Zetlin Dec 04, 2023 12 mins CIO C-Suite Business IT Alignment Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe