Lenovo ThinkVantage ImageUltra Builder Version 5.0 - Manual (Page 15)

Chapter 1. ImageUltra Builder capabilities
The ImageUltra Builder program provides new methods of creating, deploying,
and installing custom images. This chapter provides information to help you
understand the concept of building images and the various types of images that
the ImageUltra Builder program supports.
Understanding images
An image consists of several components: an operating system, applications, device
drivers, and other related files needed to successfully run a computer. In most
cases, information technology (IT) departments within corporations or system
integrators create images on source computers, extract the images and store them
in a central location. Then, they deploy the images to multiple computers either
across a network or from a set of image CDs. This enables an IT department to
develop standardized images and control the versions of software and device
drivers used throughout the company.
Developing and deploying images in this way ensures that every computer within
a company maintains a high level of image consistency. However, because images
created by this method are hardware dependent, a significant amount of time is
spent creating, testing, and transferring images from multiple source (donor)
computers to accommodate various hardware configurations and variations of
supported software. In many cases, in order to accommodate specific software
requirements, a base image is deployed and specific application programs are
added manually on a system-by-system basis after the image has been installed.
As a result, IT departments often have multiple images to manage. Whenever a
change is required to accommodate new hardware, an operating-system update, a
device-driver update, an additional language, or a new or changed application
program, many images must be rebuilt.
The major challenges most IT departments face are as follows:
v Reducing the amount of time spent creating and testing images.
v Finding a way to build and deploy images that provides increased flexibility to
meet specific software requirements that might vary from department to
department.
v Finding a way to build and deploy images across a wider range of hardware.
v Reducing or minimizing the total number of images that have to be maintained.
The purpose of the ImageUltra Builder program is to provide IT departments with
the tools needed to develop, deploy, install, and maintain a variety of images
efficiently. Through new tools and techniques, the ImageUltra Builder program
enables you to break down images into reusable subcomponents (called modules)
and use maps to construct Smart Images that can be deployed across a broad range
of hardware platforms.
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