 |
|
DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /
|
Breaking News - Operating Systems & Middleware:
OC-Manager 2.0 Sets Standard In Accelerating Linux Deployments
Designed to help small departments with as few as five Linux systems to
enterprises with as many as 5,000 Linux installations reduce the cost, time
and complexity of managing Linux IT operations, Open Country today unveiled
its full-featured, affordable and easy-to-use system management solution,
OC-Manager 2.0.
OC-Manager is an integrated, second-generation product suite that can be
installed and self-taught in a matter of hours. Customers such as Cisco and
Intel helped influence OC-Manager's server and blade management feature set,
while EDS' expertise in managing millions of desktop computers helped further
strengthen OC-Manager 2.0's Linux desktop management capabilities. Designed to
pay for itself in days or weeks rather than months or years, it easily adapts
to an organization's existing infrastructure -- and is the first solution to
offer companies the choice of managing all major Linux distributions without
having to worry about retraining or investing in new IT personnel.
"Open Country offers a Linux system management solution for desktops and
servers that's easy to implement for most corporate users and very
affordable," said industry analyst Amy Wohl of Wohl Associates. "OC-Manager
covers a broad range of management needs from provisioning to asset
management. It is readily scalable to much larger installations, which makes
it appealing to a broad range of organizations."
OC-Manager's sleek design and elegant user interface allows existing IT teams,
including those with Windows-only experience, to install and automatically
provision, manage, and support Linux servers, blades, desktops and appliances
within hours. This makes it possible for IT organizations to improve
responsiveness and reduce costs with minimal disruption.
"OC-Manager's ability to support multiple versions of Linux makes it
particularly attractive to enterprises that are moving towards Linux, but want
to maintain the flexibility to support multiple versions of Linux in a managed
environment," said Peter Nauenberg, global offering director for Desktop Linux
at EDS. "EDS actually suggested a number of the functional requirements that
have been integrated in OC-Manager and exhaustive quality testing by EDS has
shown that it is a functional and stable product."
OC-Manager performs bare-metal operating system provisioning, software and
patch management, hardware and software asset management, backup and restore,
remote system administration, and remote desktop takeover functions, allowing
a single integrated solution with a streamlined management dashboard to
replace many point solutions, each with different user interfaces, databases
and training requirements.
"As Linux extends into the enterprise environment, CIOs are searching for
solutions that improve manageability with minimal disruptions to their
operations," said Laurent Gharda, chief operating officer and co-founder of
Open Country. "With OC-Manager, one IT administrator using a Web browser can
-- in just a few clicks -- remotely provision a handful or thousands of Linux
systems, put them in a steady state where they are managed, tracked and backed
up, remotely resolve problems as they occur, and manage Linux IT operations
across a pilot project or the entire enterprise."
Cost Savings For Enterprises, Departments, Service Providers
Many Linux deployments today are in non-mission-critical applications -- such
as web and print servers or engineering and test workstations. Their
manageability is typically accomplished with manual methods, non-integrated
point tools or custom scripts that automate certain routine tasks. While these
"home-grown" solutions help administrators get part of the job done, they are
dependent on unique skills, do not to scale, and are expensive to maintain.
In contrast, OC-Manager interoperates with existing RPM-based Linux systems,
can be used by a variety of IT skills, is highly scalable, and is commercially
supported. Ideal for extensions or new migrations to Linux, OC-Manager
accommodates small, large and incremental deployments. As a result, it avoids
both the direct and hidden costs of more complicated and/or vendor lock-in
automated solutions often offered by operating system providers.
Using a Web-based interface from a Linux or Windows PC, OC-Manager provides IT
with the ability to mix, match and manage their choice of Linux distros,
applications and hardware.
"Managing a few dozen Oracle 10g servers running Red Hat Enterprise Linux in a
shop with thousands of Windows systems was an operational challenge," said
Danny Hudson, chief information officer for Liberty Travel. "We chose
OC-Manager because it could be implemented in our production environment with
no disruption to services in just hours, and because our Windows system
administrators could easily manage these systems without retraining."
Better Quality Of Service For OEMs, System Integrators And Managed Service
Providers
By making OC-Manager an integral part of their Linux offerings, OEMs and
Systems Integrators can perform remote management and diagnostics, increasing
customer satisfaction and reducing warranty returns or on-site service.
Designed to scale easily across departments, business units, and enterprises,
OC-Manager provides Managed Service Providers a means of providing customers
low-cost, automated services while optimizing the provider's resources and
business processes. The result -- increased competitiveness and profit
margins.
"We have applied the 80/20 rule to system management automation, providing all
the basic functions of remote administration and support in an integrated
console that administrators with limited or no Linux experience can operate,"
said Michael Grove, chief executive officer for Open Country. "OC-Manager
reduces the number of steps required to service support requests, set up
systems, troubleshoot, or resolve customer issues. IT professionals can expect
a dramatic reduction in time spent performing repetitive tasks -- which in
turn helps them achieve a quick return on investment."
|