The battle is on to provide simplified management of IT. HP and Dell are the heavyweights battling it out to provide the most cost effective, resource efficient and information rich management solutions. Dell claims that its management solutions, based on Altiris, do more than HP's to simplify management. Are these claims valid? Ptak, Noel & Associates LLC (PNA) explored the logic behind these claims, did some research, and formed our opinion on the validity of each claim. For the most part, PNA's concluding opinion is that the supporting logic and data are sound enough for the claims to have credibility and should be taken seriously.