[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Template Basic Section” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”Header Row” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” collapsed=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/mitchellberg.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/banner_portfolio.png” alt=”My Portfolio” title_text=”banner_portfolio” admin_label=”Header Image” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_menu admin_label=”Site Main Menu” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” min_height=”31px” custom_padding=”||0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_menu][et_pb_text admin_label=”Expository Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”0px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
“Neurons” is Ivanti’s cloud platform.\u00a0 “Patch for Neurons” is the platform’s patch management solution.\u00a0\u00a0 I designed it.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ admin_label=”Situation Row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Situation Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Ivanti and its predecessor companies have been leaders in network security software for nearly two decades.<\/p>\n
In particular, Ivanti dominates patching \u2013 the automatic installation of security updates.<\/p>\n
This is an incredibly complex domain: patching a big network is potentially the most disruptive, destructive activity a systems administrator can do on a network.<\/p>\n
Ivanti\u2019s security products had always been \u201con-premises\u201d, Windows-based software. But there is a market imperative to put that capability in the cloud.<\/p>\n
During a \u201cHackathon\u201d in 2019, I was involved in a \u201cdemonstration of concept\u201d that would allow a cloud-based system to assume control of its patching management software remotely.<\/p>\n
Using the \u201cInspired\u201d model, I joined a product manager and a tech lead in developing the concept for \u201cPatch for Neurons\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/mitchellberg.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/SessionWhiteBoard.png” alt=”Team at Whiteboard Session” title_text=”SessionWhiteBoard” admin_label=”Whiteboard Image” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Whiteboard Caption” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Figure 1 – Some of the many whiteboard (and greenboard) sketches that led to the final design, and some of my teammates discussing them.\u00a0 [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ admin_label=”Task Row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Task Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Starting from the metaphorical plain white sheet of paper, design a cloud based enterprise patch management solution.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ admin_label=”Action Row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Action Text – Hackathon” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Design went through three phases:<\/p>\n The project started as a \u201chackathon\u201d \u2013 a two day event allowing teams of engineers 16<\/p>\n uninterrupted hours to solve an engineering problem.<\/p>\n Our problem: could a web client could exert real-time control over remote consoles in secure environments?<\/p>\n After two days, the answer was \u201cYes \u2013 now what?\u201d<\/p>\n I\u00a0designed an extremely simple web UI for the hackathon \u2013 basically listing the applicable consoles, and the results of a \u201cScan\u201d for updated patches that the console triggered on them.<\/p>\n The Hackathon showed it was possible to remotely control on-premises consoles.<\/p>\n The next question was \u201cWhat do we do turn this engineer\u2019s party trick into a marketable product?<\/p>\n That led to the next step.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Whiteboard 1 Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n The next phase involved a three person \u201cInspired\u201d model team \u2013 a product manager, a tech lead and me \u2013 working on iterating the concept from its hackathon state into something that could go to development \u2013 and to market.<\/p>\n We spent several weeks iterating the design, working toward the following goals:<\/p>\n So we started designing.<\/p>\n We went through dozens of design iterations.\u00a0 In each case:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Whiteboard 2 Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n After a few weeks, we had an application that we could test with real users.Then came the hard part: winning the political fight. This was going to be a major investment, if the company decided to go ahead with it.<\/p>\n To win the political fight, we did a couple of rounds of research:<\/p>\n The answers to both were \u201cYes, but\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Which led to our next design iterations \u2013 with a development team.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Engineers Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n In the summer of 2020, the organization built a development team around our project.<\/p>\n The design from the \u201cwhiteboard\u201d phase design carried forward \u2013 mostly.<\/p>\n But we included an entirely new feature, entirely because of our usability testing, which had had two discoveries, one expected, the other a complete surprise.<\/p>\n First – Users biggest complaint about their existing products was bad reporting tools.<\/p>\n Users main goal wasn\u2019t just <\/em>a healthy network; it was also proving to their management, and in some cases their regulators, that they had a healthy network.<\/p>\n This led us to an innovation: the Compliance Report view \u2013 which we\u2019ll cover in a separate case study (see the next section).<\/p>\n This leveraged the constant stream of scanning data to build a continuous report that not only allowed the user to report to management at the end of a cycle,but in fact gave the user a motive to drive their actions at the beginning, or any other time, in the cycle.<\/p>\n This turned out to be a major innovation, leading to three engineering patents (two of them granted as this is written<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/mitchellberg.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/LoonTake1-2.png” title_text=”LoonTake1″ show_in_lightbox=”on” admin_label=”Loon Squib Image” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” border_radii=”on|1px|1px|1px|1px” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Squib Caption” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Figure 2 – one of our design iterations. It was not a successful one – it was no advance over the on-premises version. It took minutes to design, andseconds to dispose of.\u00a0 (Pardon the image quality – after five years, it’s a screenshot of a screenshot). [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/mitchellberg.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/epv_with_rings.png” alt=”Endpoint Vulnerability Page, Final” title_text=”epv_with_rings” show_in_lightbox=”on” admin_label=”EPV Image” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” border_radii=”on|1px|1px|1px|1px” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”EPV Caption” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Figure 3 – the list of “endpoints” – machines – in the network, including the level of “risk” =, reflecting the devices current patch states.\u00a0 This was the day-to-day information the users really needed.\u00a0 It looks complex.\u00a0 It was complex.\u00a0 But it tested well;\u00a0 users are used to complexity, but need the right information. This was one of six primary pages in Patch for Neurons.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”%22See Also%22 hed” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|600|||||||” background_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.05)” text_orientation=”center” border_radii=”on|1px|1px|1px|1px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n See more Patch for Neurons<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/mitchellberg.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/patch_config_-_eps_assigned.png” alt=”Patch Settings Configuration page” title_text=”patch_config_-_eps_assigned” show_in_lightbox=”on” admin_label=”PSC Image” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” border_radii=”on|1px|1px|1px|1px” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”PSC Caption” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Figure 4 – the Patch Settings configuration page.\u00a0 <\/p>\n This is one of the later iterations.\u00a0 As new features and requirements – ring deployment, maintenance windows, user surveys – have crept into the product, the formerly relatively simple page has become very long and complex.\u00a0 This is the subject of a redsign that we’ll in a separate section of this portfolio. \u00a0 [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/mitchellberg.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Compliance-Report-1.png” alt=”Compliance Report” title_text=”Compliance Report” show_in_lightbox=”on” admin_label=”CR Page Image” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” border_radii=”on|1px|1px|1px|1px” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Figure 4 – the Compliance Report.\u00a0 This conveyed to the user how compliant their network was to company and regulatory security policies.\u00a0 It rates its own section of the portfolio<\/a>.\u00a0 [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ admin_label=”Results Row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Results Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n The project, which started as three guys working in a back conference room working on a whiteboard, is currently in development by a multinational team of nearly 25.<\/p>\n It began deploying early 2022, serving a \u201csweet spot\u201d of customers with up to 10,000 endpoints (desktop, laptop and server computers).<\/p>\n Today, it is one of two products on Ivanti’s Neurons cloud platform that’s making any money (and I designed the other one, too).<\/strong><\/p>\n Four patent applications are currently in the works.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”%22See Also PSC Redesign%22 hed” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|600|||||||” background_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.05)” text_orientation=”center” border_radii=”on|1px|1px|1px|1px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n See more Patch for Neurons<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”%22See Also CR%22 hed” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|600|||||||” background_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.05)” text_orientation=”center” border_radii=”on|1px|1px|1px|1px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n See more about Compliance Reporting<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Footer Section” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”rgba(12,113,195,0.15)” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_5,1_5,1_5,1_5,1_5″ admin_label=”Footer Row” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_5″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Home Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _dynamic_attributes=”link_option_url” _module_preset=”default” link_option_url=”@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF9saW5rX3VybF9wYWdlIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsicG9zdF9pZCI6IjE2MCJ9fQ==@” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Home<\/strong><\/p>\n Back to the top<\/p>\n [Home<\/a>]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_5″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”WID Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n What I Do<\/strong><\/p>\n All about the things I do and how I do them<\/a>, and what I’ve achieved<\/a> so far.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_5″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Portfolio Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portfolio<\/strong><\/p>\n Links to illustrations and case studies of several important projects. (You’ll need to contact me for a password<\/a>)<\/p>\n [Portfolio Page<\/a>]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_5″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Resume Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Resume<\/strong><\/p>\n My most current resume. <\/p>\n
<\/em><\/p>\nTask<\/h2>\n
Actions<\/h2>\n
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The Hackathon<\/h4>\n
The Whiteboard<\/h4>\n
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\n
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With The Development Team<\/h4>\n
<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/em><\/p>\nResults<\/h2>\n
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