newScale - an outfit that offers enterpriseware for cataloging, provisioning, and tracking internal IT stuff - has released a new incarnation of this IT-happy package, dubbed the FrontOffice Suite.

Version 9 of the suite includes a new platform - known as the LifecycleCenter - for tracking the entire existence of IT equipment and services, including ordering, delivery, subscription payments, chargebacks, and - ultimately - recovery.

There's also a new library of "wizard" templates - for building online order forms and like - and an expanded library of clip art, sample stylesheets, and other goodies meant to spruce up the platform. "We want to bring the Apple Store-Amazon-Dell experience to IT storefronts," says newScale CTO Rodrigo Flores.

Plus, the company claims easier integration with third-party services, including data center provisioning applications, virtualization tools, and other back-office systems.

In essence, FrontOffice provides IT organizations will a self-service portal that serves up, well, almost anything to the rest of the company. According to newScale, the suite is used by 20 per cent of the Fortune 50. Siemens, Boeing, and Starbucks are all customers.

"An IT organization...has customers. It has constituents," newScale CEO Scott Hammond tells The Reg. "At home, with the web, almost anything you want can be found, ordered, and tracked...That's what people are used to, and that's IT has to respond to."

The package is intended for companies with 2000 or more employees. ®