Closing the Remote Support Gap -

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White Paper

Closing the Remote Support Gap -

How KVM IP Can Enhance Remote Support

For Intelligent Devices (or Mission-Critical Computers)

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Executive Summary

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The Proliferation of Intelligent Devices

‘Mission-critical’ computers

As computers become more compact, sophisticated and inexpensive, they can be included in tools that, until the early 1990’s, could only function as stand-alone devices with minimal ‘intelligent’ ability.

Today, such ‘intelligent devices’ are any type of equipment, instrument, or machine that has its own computing capability. The almost infinite list of intelligent devices includes manufacturing

machinery, medical instruments, telecommunication systems, environmental monitoring equipment, and digital signage players. Intelligent devices such as bank ATM’s, kiosks, vending machines, medical scanners and traffic light controllers can all be easily networked, and include built-in computers designed to monitor, record and track their own performance.

The proliferation of intelligent devices makes the computer part ‘critical’ to the industries that require the device’s service. Thus from an IT context, computers that are embedded in devices are

‘mission-critical’ - meaning that any degradation in their computing ability negatively affects the revenue-generating capability of the company operating the device, or can cause serious harm to livelihood, property or life. Gartner defines ‘mission-critical’ applications as:

“Business applications that would bring your company to a stop if they were not running. Mission-critical applications are typically supported and managed by a central IT staff.” (Gartner,

‘Mission-Critical Application Survey, 2004)

Reliable and effective computer support thus becomes an imperative issue now that computers are more mission-critical than ever before. According to a Harbor Research study in 2002, the number of intelligent devices networked for the purposes of remote administration is expected to reach over 500 million by 2010.

Market Applications for Intelligent Devices

– Digital signage – media players

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– Security surveillance systems – camera DVRs – Telecom systems - VoIP

– Environmental monitoring - HVAC – Banking – ATM machines

– Traffic control systems

– Monitoring./inspection systems – Process control systems

The Demand for Remote Support

Development

An important feature of these intelligent devices is that, while they contain mission-critical computer processors, unlike servers, they do not generally sit inside the data center. In the IT computer environment, there is a growing shift to a more flexible ‘virtual community’ of decentralized computers connected via the internet. And thus the urgency for accessible, efficient technical support and maintenance has now risen to the top of the list of IT requirements.

As organizations place greater emphasis on the role of intelligent devices in undertaking business transactions and customer service, there is also a requirement for a means of remote support that can identify and resolve technical problems at all levels, where the end users may be minimally computer proficient, and where downtime can lead to detrimental results for an organization’s operations.

Today’s remote support provision must therefore fulfill the following 3 requirements: 1. The need to identify the problem in real-time;

2. The need to fix the problem as quickly as possible; 3. The need for the solution to be location independent.

Who needs it?

1. Intelligent Device Manufacturers – referring specifically to the IT support departments of companies that produce the intelligent devices.

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devices (such as maintenance of the medical equipment in a remote hospital etc).

Remote Support Problems

Remote management of servers and computers addresses the day-to-day operation of 1) the application software, 2) the operating system, and 3) the hardware. However, the options for effectively troubleshooting these three levels of computer operation are still lacking:

Telephone Call Center Support

Hit and miss – The user calls a support number and speaks directly to the support staff. The call

center technician relies on the user describing the nature of the problem accurately without visual aid. The user in many cases may not be technically knowledgeable, and the entire process can be hit and miss.

No direct system access – The technician does not have physical access to the user’s system,

and this makes a correct diagnosis of the problem less sure and time-to-resolution far longer.

Remote Support Software

No BIOS level access – While problems at the server software application level can be remedied

by software solutions, approximately 40% of all computer/server problems are related to the

operating system (OS), and about 10% are due to hardware failure. It is often wrongly assumed that BIOS level access is available using remote support software. However, remote software support runs on the operating system, so if a problem occurs at the OS level — when you need remote support the most — the software solution is useless. The only alternative for both operating system and hardware problems is to call-out field technicians that must travel on-site to fix the problem.

Field Technician Service

Slow repair time - Organizations still have to deal with the reality that neither their in-house

administration staff nor service technicians will be close at hand to every site. Should a problem develop, a support person must first roll-out a truck to get on-site before even the first attempt to achieving a resolution takes place. Repair time is a critical factor for ‘mission-critical’ system operators and a major limitation of conventional field technician services.

Expensive - As well as being slow, calling out field technicians and rolling out a truck is the most

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session, and thousands of dollars of expenditure over the total life-cycle of a typical mission-critical computer and intelligent device. The problem becomes even more acute if a third party – for example, the application software provider becomes involved.

**Technical Support Cost * and Repair Time - Typical**

Escalation

Field Service Technician $500-600/call

Call Center Technician $50-200/call Call Center $20-50/call 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 minutes hours Time to Resolution Cost $ * Approx figures

How Does KVM IP Enhance Remote Support?

Closing the Gap

KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) technology, found both in KVM IP Gateways and digital KVM switches give you the same web-based access as the remote software solutions, but with the addition of BIOS level entry to your operating system.

In recent years KVM IP Gateways have shrunk in size, fallen in cost, and improved greatly in technological performance making them particularly suitable for remote support applications. A software remote support solution cannot access a computer’s BIOS level or other build-in

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BIOS level access also enables a number of unique missions to be performed that the remote software solutions are unable to accomplish such as: booting from another hard disk if the main hard disk is broken; bypassing faulty hardware components; entering the Windows recovery console; entering ‘safe mode’ without networking; reconfiguring low level drivers; remotely booting to another operating system (dual boot); recovering and restoring the hard drive from a previous image etc.

The Software-Free Advantage

Software solutions for remote support typically require the addition of software agents to be installed onto each of the target mission-critical computers. This creates a number of problems:

1) Increased chance of compromising the system’s security; 2) Reduced system performance;

3) Remote accessing difficulties if the computer is busy or not responding to network connections.

With a KVM IP device installed however, remote support can be enhanced:

1) Technical support can be implemented over a parallel network that does not occupy bandwidth from the business network;

2) If the computer operating system won’t start, the technician can reboot the system remotely without sending a field technician;

3) Administrators or technicians can access and manage the devices even when the systems are powered off.

The use of a KVM IP device fixes a wider range of computer problems remotely, avoids the many problems of software-type solutions, and reduces the call-out frequency of field technicians.

ROI of KVM IP Solutions

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Increased device uptime and efficiency - KVM IP increases the availability of the IT environment

– enabling the business to proactively identify problems in real-time and improve the overall performance and management of the IT infrastructure. Typical device downtime is reduced from hours/days to minutes eliminating the risk of loosing valuable customers, revenue or reputation.

Lower one-time service costs - A typical system problem begins with a call to a company’s

technical support – in many cases this being outsourced. The minimum cost of a call to the service center typically starts at between $20 - 50 per call. The next stage routes the caller to the technical support technician – typically costing $50 – 200 per call. If the field technician fails to resolve the problem over the phone the final stage involves a field technician and truck roll-out – typically at $500 -600 per session. An installed KVM IP solution acts as an effective barrier to spiraling support costs by cutting drastically the times that a call-out field technician will be needed.

**KVM IP Device Reduces Cost* Escalation and Repair Time of**

a Technical Support Session

Call Center $20-50/call Call Center Technician $50-200/call 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 minutes Time to Resolution Cost $ * Approx figures

Lower long-term service costs - In addition to saving time and cost on each individual repair job,

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Long Term Cost* Comparison: Remote Software Solution vs. KVM IP Solution KVM IP Solution Remote Software Solution 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000

1-time 5-times 10-times

Problem Frequency

Cost

$

* Approx figures

More efficient use of personnel - In an environment of tightened IT budgets, many organizations

can no longer afford the luxury of spending thousands of dollars on a successive number of call-out’s, or a large IT staff. With a KVM IP device a company can leverage the experience and know how of call-out staff experts by helping them to identify whether a problem actually requires a field technician and truck roll-out.

Higher customer satisfaction - Manufacturers and operators of mission-critical computers and

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Remote Support Scenario – Before KVM IP Solution

Problem Type & Approx Frequency (%)

Application 50%

Hardware 10% Operating System 40%

Type of Remote Support Solution

Remote software

Field Technician Service

Figure 1. Without a KVM IP solution, problems associated with the device’s computer application are solved using

software solutions. Problems that arise with either the operating system or hardware both require a field service technician call-out which is both expensive and slow.

Remote Support Scenario – After KVM IP Solution

KVM IP Gateway

Application 50%

Hardware 10%

Type of Remote Support Solution

Field Technician Service Remote software Problem Type & Approx Occurrence (%)

Operating System 40%

Figure 2. KVM IP can answer up to 90% of typical device problems. Those that arise at the operating system level do not

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The Minicom Advantage

Once the decision has been made to acquire a web-based remote KVM IP device, the next question is deciding which vendor offers the best solution.

Minicom Advanced Systems, a leading manufacturer of KVM solutions for the server management market has a proven track record of technological innovation. Minicom’s latest KVM IP offering is the IP Control, a palm sized, high-performance, KVM IP Gateway device designed to give simple web-based access for administrators to operate a complete remote support system. Computers and intelligent devices can be monitored and maintained from anywhere in the world using the highest industry security standards (128-bit SSL). Problems can be diagnosed more accurately and fixed in less time, and at lower cost.

Based on proprietary KVM technology, IP Control expands an administrator’s remote support capabilities to the computer’s BIOS level – giving complete remote support.

IP Control is a software-free solution so it doesn’t require the installation of dedicated software onto the host operating system, and thus eliminates the possibility of conflicts with mission-critical applications. Software-free installation also reduces potential security breaches and doesn’t compromise the server’s performance.

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Conclusion - KVM IP for Complete Remote Support

For the growing remote support market of mission-critical intelligent devices, the superiority of remote KVM IP devices lies in their combination of web-based access, BIOS level entry, and software-free installation. As well as being safer and healthier for the mission-critical application, this combination is a complete remote support solution – offering greater access than software remote support, and eliminating the need for expensive field technicians when operating system failure occurs. This greatly increases the efficiency and speed at which problematic devices can be made up and running again.

KVM IP technology is the ideal solution for remote support in mission-critical scenarios where reducing the length of server downtime is of the highest essence. Choosing the right KVM IP Gateway ensures that remote KVM access comes at minimum cost, and with maximum capability,

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About Minicom Advanced Systems

Minicom Advanced Systems is a principal manufacturer of KVM solutions for out-of-band server management and distribution systems for Digital Signage. Synonymous with both innovative know-how and commitment to partnerships, Minicom is leading the development of internet-based centralized KVM access technologies and multi-media distribution systems. Founded in 1987 and based in Jerusalem, Israel, Minicom has a global presence with regional headquarters in North America and Europe. In 2005, Minicom acquired Replicom Ltd, a leading developer of remote KVM systems, which operates today as Minicom’s R&D center for IP technology.

Closing the Remote Support Gap -

White Paper