In all, there are about 10,000 PCs and servers in the district, which has 4,000 school administrators and 33,000 students in 60 locations, Bullock said.

Integrating the software agent functions into a single agent is a "huge benefit," said Harry Butler, support center manager at EFW Inc., an electronics supplier in Fort Worth, Texas. Having multiple agents running on hundreds of machines was a "pain in the butt," Butler said.

EFW has been testing CA's Desktop and Server Management tools since November on about 1,400 laptops, servers and desktops.

Some EFW IT workers have grown concerned that the CA software may jeopardize their jobs, but Bullock said they have been reassured that they will continue to be responsible for administering the software, among other job functions.

CA's integration of management functions is what makes the new release important, said Andi Mann, an analyst at Enterprise Management Associates in Boulder, Colo.