Dell unleashes the IT Ninjas

Dell's software group, and the vendor's IT management arm, Dell KACE, have teamed up to launch a new site for the IT community, ITNinja.

The site is focused on providing vendor-neutral support information on topics such as application deployment and configuration, and application management. The new site was developed from AppDeploy.com, a support community Dell acquired through its KACE subsidiary.

The new site will use a gamification strategy, based loosely on martial arts culture, to encourage participation and knowledge sharing. According to Bob Kelly, AppDeploy's founder, the aim is to build up content, to move away from the site's original niche of application deployment.

"We are now geared to a wider group of IT professionals: help desks, desktop support, and people in systems management. We are growing organically to cover related topics," said Kelly.

Visitors to the site will be rewarded with belt ranks, up to Black Belt level, which will also confer Ninja status on the member. Membership of the site is free of charge.

Research by Dell KACE found that 80 per cent of IT professionals use online support communities, and 95 per cent said that they were able to do their jobs more effectively by networking and sharing information with their peers online.