HP SoftPaq Download Manager and HP System Software Manager - A Powerful Combination

Executive summary

Keeping PCs in a business up to date with the latest software and hardware updates presents a

number of problems, including time, bandwidth, and logistical issues. HP offers two tools, HP SoftPaq

Download Manager (SDM) and HP System Software Manager (SSM) that can be used in conjunction

to help streamline the update process, reducing IT costs and improving the TCO for your HP PCs.

By using these tools, companies will be able to keep all of their HP PCs up to date with the latest

SoftPaqs (software packages for updates to drivers/BIOSes and certain software for HP computers)

automatically, instead of having to run each SoftPaq individually on each machine, not knowing if the

SoftPaq actually needs to be installed or not.

The following topics in this document are covered:

 Overview of HP SDM and HP SSM

 Setting up and using HP SDM and SSM

 Customizing usage of HP SDM and SSM

Overview of HP SDM and HP SSM

HP SoftPaq Download Manager (SDM) is a software tool designed to streamline the download and

extraction process of SoftPaqs. Instead of manually searching for and downloading each SoftPaq, IT

personnel can find and grab all the appropriate SoftPaqs for each of their machines all in one sitting.

HP System Software Manager (SSM) is a free software tool designed to simplify deployment of

SoftPaqs to HP PCs. The SSM tool detects which updates apply to the system from the available

SoftPaqs and installs them onto the system, so you do not have to worry about accidentally installing

an older version. SSM accesses the SoftPaqs from the local network or local folder instead of

downloading them from the internet, cutting down on update time and saving network bandwidth.

For more details on either of these tools visit the following webpages:

SDM: http://www.hp.com/go/SDM

SSM: http://www.hp.com/go/SSM

Use Case for SDM/SSM

Using HP SDM and SSM to manage software updates is ideal for:

 Small to medium business sizes (1-100)

 Updating a group of PCs outside normal IT maintenance

 Recommended for Enterprise Customers for faster download of SoftPaqs

 Using HP Business Notebooks Common Products Catalog

Note that SSM will only update PCs with SoftPaqs that are marked as SSM compliant.