Software Distribution and Patch Management technology cannot be thought of any longer as a purely technical toolset, but should be thought of more as a business integrated capability. Software distribution used to be a function maintained by technical people to save labour as an alternative to walk around CD based installation. It is now a key mechanism used to regulate change, facilitate build and release management, control patch levels, self heal damaged systems and much more. The decision on the software distribution (and remote control) toolset triggers many other architectural decisions with regard to Licence Management and Discovery. Unfortunately vendor marketing has frequently oversold the capabilities of software distribution tools and in ITAMS experience there is always a trade-off somewhere when selecting a solution in this area. Selection must therefore be performed with care and by proper proof of concept. As many of our clients have experienced there are many tools out there with extensive functionality, options and claimed integration but there is also an exponential increase in the specialist skill sets required to operate them, the infrastructure required to run them and the delay involved to properly set them up and commence gaining real benefit from them. At ITAMS we have real world experience with software distribution tools and use a hands-on, practical and real world approach when assessing and recommending a solution to our clients.