Put Remote Management To Work In Your Branch Office
Remote system management is an increasingly important issue facing many businesses today. As corporate consolidation integrates additional locations within the same infrastructure, IT professionals face a more demanding environment. Recent surveys show that as many as 95 percent of branch offices operate without on-site IT personnel (1). Additionally, other surveys indicate that while spending on corporate IT staff still constitutes the largest component of most IT budgets, it continues to decline-from 42 percent in 2005 to 37 percent this past year. (2) These trends require IT professionals to do more with less and determine more effective ways to perform critical tasks.
These changes in IT staffing often result in non-technical personnel performing standard tasks, such as data backup, patch management, and system maintenance. Not only do these tasks detract from an employee"s primary responsibilities, it is difficult to assure that best practices and procedures are followed. In addition, failure to perform these tasks could result in vulnerabilities related to data loss and security.
In addressing the challenges and risks associated with remote site management, many IT professionals are implementing "intelligent" management solutions. These solutions provide systems administrators with remote, bios-level access to all of their servers, network devices, and other critical equipment.
Remote management solutions offer significant benefits, including:
Reducing downtime and allowing administrators to bring equipment back online quickly
Decreasing operating costs by eliminating or reducing the need for IT staff or third-party service calls
Centralizing datacenter control, improving security and providing easier and more efficient processes to perform system administration, maintenance, and upgrades
Improving physical site security and monitoring, minimizing capital loss due to vandalism or theft of equipment (3)
Remote management solutions generally combine remote management, intelligent power, and environmental monitoring.
References: (1) (2006) Gareiss, R. "Branch Office Support: A Distant Reality", Network World.
(2) (2007) Rothberg, D. "Companies Will Spend More on The Channel, Less on Staff in 2007", eWeek.
(3) (2005) Hack, T. "Optimizing Remote Site Equipment Configuration, Monitoring, and Control." Remote Site and Equipment Management.
This article was written by Lauren Nowenstein, Technical Writer, with guidance and input from DirectNET"s team of Solutions Sales Engineers. If you would like to send us feedback about this article, or have any
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