Support Report: Remote monitor & control multiple computers over IP from a single computer

Recently we had an interesting application request that I would like to share…

A customer requested a solution to allow him to remotely monitor and control five computers which are located in multiple locations.

His requirement was that there would be five screens attached to a “Master” PC and this Master PC will constantly monitor the remote computers and take the control when needed. There is also a need to maintain a local console next to each remote computer for local operation. Another important requirement is that there should be no software installed on the remote computers.

We recommended adding a Quad VGA adaptor to the “Master computer” that will allow him to connect five screens to the Master PC at once, along with using our IP Control he can remotely view and control each computer without the need of installing any application on them (this feature is also known as remote bios level access). The Smart Extender that is also added to each remote PC will allow the local user to ‘share’ the control with the administrator working from the Master PC without being disconnected.

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Thanks to Nir Dary, Minicom's Technical Support Manager for this Support Report!

Do you have a technical question about a Minicom product or are you looking for solutions for your IT department? Visit Minicom Support for FAQ's, product updates, user guides and contact details for our expert technicians around the world.

Reseller Seminar & KVM.net II Certification Invitation

If you are a Minicom Reseller, please join us for a Partner Product Seminar & become certified to sell Minicom’s revolutionary Centralized Remote Access & Management Solution – KVM.net II

During the seminar you will learn:

• Why centralized access is critical to your customers, large and small.
• The exclusive advantages of the KVM.NET II solution.
• To position a central access solution to your small, medium and large IT end customers
• How to design solutions to real life customer problems
• Hands on training with KVM.net II and other remote access products.
• How to access valuable sales tools
  

Event Location and Details:

• At the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Elizabeth, NJ
• 0.5 miles from the Newark International Airport

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

• 9:30 - 12:30 Product Introduction
• 1:30 - 5:30 Certification Training

Please RSVP by February 15, 2009 to: David Zucker at David.Zucker@minicom.com

Please Note: If you are not from the area, room reservations can be made here. Advanced Room Rate Specials are available from $63.95 onwards.

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Previous attendees said:

Jim Fry, President, Fox Network Systems:

"KVM.net II certification training was probably the best focused product training I've seen in a decade. Although the training had participants at all levels of prior experience and technical knowledge, the Minicom leaders kept the participants and material on track and focused. This made sure the beginners weren't lost and the "old-timers" weren't bored silly. Minicom people kept attendees interested and involved with lecture, tests and interactive groups. My hat's off to the Minicom team for a job well done."

Jim Mollencop, DataSPAN - Territory Manager PNW:

"The certification program for KVM.net II was VERY informative and helpful! Not only does Minicom have a great IT solution that is simple to set up, use and sell at great margins, but also provides a great marketing tool for these tough economic times called "Minicom's real needs approach" said Jim Mollencop, dataSPAN Territory Manager PNW. "Literally a few days after the training I visited a client and discussed the "real needs approach" and was immediately asked for a quote at the meeting."

Support Report: Remote Bios Level Access over 3g Network

From time to time we receive interesting technical support questions and seeing as how it's always fun to share in-house, we are going to also share them here:

Recently a telecommunications company requested to remotely control a PC not dependant on the operating system (also known as remote bios level access). Ideally, the connection would be over cellular network. The main concern was quality of performance when controlling a remote desktop over a 3g network… and primarily how fast will the screen refresh!?

The application he intended on using was to mend an application from anywhere, in other words he has an application that needs to be mended regardless of the physical location of the operator.

Most of the time he needs the remote collection to be over Lan or wireless but there will be times where the remote operator will connect to the cellular network. Their requirement was also not to install any application or driver on the controlled computer.

This is where our KVM over IP technology suits his needs. By using the PX USB (Minicom’s high-performance IP Gateway) or IP Control (remote KVM gateway) products we were able to demonstrate and control a remote computer over a 3g cellular network with excellent performance.

Learn how remote KVM gateways can work for your IT needs, download the FREE white paper “Remote Support using KVM IP Technology” or test one of Minicom's IP products in an interactive live demo - go to Request Demo Form.

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Thanks to Nir Dary, Minicom's Technical Support Manager for the first Support Report!

Do you have a technical question about a Minicom KVM product? Visit Minicom Support for FAQ's, product updates, user guides and contact details for our expert technicians around the world.

SMB Tweets

Twitter has been around a while now, and if you don't know what it is or how small business can get the most out of this free tool, just go see what Bernie Borges of BAMB (Bay Area Business Magazine) wrote in his article: "Is Twitter a Corporate Communication Tool?"

I agree with Bernie when he says "The opportunities for businesses to use Twitter are plentiful. Individuals within your company can create a Twitter profile. They can post comments about things that are happening in your company or your industry. They can search to find and follow people who share common interests by searching in Twitter using relevant keywords."

If you are considering starting a Twitter feed for your small business, there are helpful FAQ's on Twitter for a good overview.

Jason Hiner over at Tech Republic recently posted "Techies: The top 10 people you should follow on Twitter". There are much more than 10 on his list which is definitely worth looking at.

You can now follow Minicom on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Minicom_IT

Free Webinar Invitation

Is the current economic situation delaying your plans to upgrade your server rooms? Join us for a FREE Webinar: Cost Effective Solutions for Remote Data Center Access

Date: Friday, February 6, 2009

Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EST

Now, more than ever, we need to concentrate on our Real Needs:

Remote access? Yes, that's a real need.

Replacing your perfectly good KVM switches? Not so much.

This short webinar will focus on how to give your Data Center's KVM infrastructure a facelift and transform it into a remotely accessible IP system without replacing any legacy KVM switches.


We will be focusing on:

• Why we suggest not throwing out perfectly good KVM switches and serial devices just because you need to upgrade to an IP environment
  
• How you can save time, money, and training headaches by concentrating on your Real Needs
  
• What our competitors do not want you to know ---how to extend the life of your existing products.

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.


System Requirements:

PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, VistaMacintosh®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Minicom KVM Switch Technology Chosen by the Largest Bus and Tram Operator in Gothenburg, Sweden

Minicom’s keyboard, video and mouse (KVM) switch technology was selected by the largest bus and tram operator in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The Customer is the largest bus and tram operator in Gothenburg, Sweden. The overcrowding in their seven Network Operations Centers (NOCs) was causing slow downs in operations and service. They wanted to cut down on equipment to streamline operations. Each NOC had a single manager monitoring eight servers. These servers were in turn connected to eight monitors, which they want to keep. They wanted to reduce the numbers of keyboards and mice from eight to one in every one of the NOC´s.

The Bus Company contacted a system integrator that works with Intronics Sweden. They told them what they were looking for and asked for help in building a solution. Intronics turned to Minicom. Minicom suggested installing a single Smart 108 KVM switch plus eight VGA extenders for the monitors at each NOC. This was a new technology for Intronics Sweden, so they first tested some other brands, but Minicom´s solution was finally chosen as the best. Intronics installed a Smart 108 KVM switch for switching the keyboard and mouse between the servers and a VGA extender for connecting each monitor to a server.

It was mainly a question of time and money. The quick delivery was a big part of the solution, because they had a strict time limit in which they had to finish the installation. Minicom was able to deliver its solution within the two week deadline. As a result of the Minicom solution, the Bus Company has decreased the numbers of keyboards and mice in their NOCs. Their managers are now more effective since they no longer have to jump around the office going from PC to PC and can control all their servers from a single console.

SMB IT On Air

I recently started looking around at Blog talk radio after seeing that they have a channel called Small Business IT, which is based in Calgary Canada.

Small Business IT Radio is a show for IT Professionals that service the small business market. In this show we will cover everything from technology to how to market your business. All are welcome

Today’s show is “Leveraging Kaseya in your SMB IT Business” Kaseya is a monitoring tool available to SMB IT Professionals.

All other shows are available on demand, including the 2008 recap:

“2008 – The Year of the Rollercoaster” - 2008 was a roller coaster year to say the least. Starting off with a bang and ending with uncertainty of what the future has to offer the SMB IT consultant. With the economy failing and the threat of online services taking away from our sales, what does 2009 have to offer us?

It’s always nice to hear good advice and up to date information. It’s worth it to take some time to listen to them.

Security Spending To Increase In 2009

“Security is getting a bigger piece of the IT budget pie,” said Jonathan Penn, author and vice president of tech industry strategy and security, about a recent Forrester report.

The next biggest issues were disaster recovery, followed by identity and access management.

This is good to hear, considering Minicom is in the Access Management business. Our Centralized Access & Management System, KVM.net II fits right into this category.

For your Server Room or Datacenter KVM.net II will:

• Automate centralized remote access
• Create customized access services
• Use a single portal to access ANY of your IT assets via a single-click
• Keep your existing KVM infrastructure
• Preserve your investment in training time
• Unify administration of targets and users across geographic locations to distributed branch offices
  
  A free interactive online demo is available, just fill out this short form and set up a time that is convenient for you.

Starting a Small Business Advice

While some people are taking a holiday break, Stefan Töpfer of The Small Business Blog isn’t. His latest post targets those of us who might be making new years resolutions to “Start my own home business or small business”.

His 5-step plan is solid:

Define Your Goals
Get A Business Idea
Test Your Business Idea
Bootstrap All The Way
Stay Focused, Always!

If you are planning to start your own small business in these rough times, take some time to read or listen to the article as a podcast.

Stefan Töpfer is CEO & Chairman of WinWeb (which developed OnlineOffice - The Small Business Infrastructure). His blog, The Small Business Blog is one that I’m adding to my list to watch. Good advice and resources for small businesses!

Free Webinar: Minicom's Smart 2-User Series

Free Webinar Invitation

Date: December 18th, 2008
Time: 3:00 - 4:00 PM EST (1 hour)
Topic: Minicom's new Smart 2-User KVM Series

Speakers Include:
David Zucker, Director, Business Development - KVM Division
Ivo Petrov Director, Technical Support

Limited space is available

Minicom's Smart 2-User Family consists of four new different products. Join us for this free product introduction webinar. Learn why these products are different that any other 2-user products in the market.

Smart 216 IP – 16 port CAT5 switch with 2 remote users and 1 local user
Smart 216 – 2-user, 16 port KVM switch



Smart 232 IP – 32 port CAT5 switch with 2 remote users and 1 local user
Smart 232 - 2-user, 32 port KVM switch

These competitively priced switches have great mouse synchronization and are compatible with our remote access management tool - KVM.net® II. Combining innovative CAT5 technology and OSD management, the Smart CAT5 switches are the perfect KVM solution for SMB server and rack environments.

Limited space is available

Can't make it? Schedule a free online IP product demo with a Minicom rep at a time that is convenient for you and in the meantime download a free white paper on “KVM IP Management for Today’s IT Budget”

Announcement: Minicom Partners with Alexander Schneider

Minicom recently established a partnership with Alexander Schneider Ltd, the leading solution provider for datacenters, and representatives at the forefront of the Green IT industry in Israel.

Eli Sasson, President of Minicom says: “we are happy to have Alexander Schneider as a part of our international distribution network. The reason they were chosen was because of their professional capabilities to implement advanced solutions in server rooms in most of the leading companies in Israel. Another reason is their reputation for excellent customer support, which they provide 24/7.”

According to Igal Schneider, CEO “the cooperation with Minicom enriches the offerings of solutions that Schneider provides its customers in the server room. Some customers that we currently service are Bank Leumi, Bank Hapoalim, Visa Kal, Rafael, Elbit, Nice, Comverse, Checkpoint, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Finance & others…..“Minicom has a wide portfolio that fits with the SMB perfectly; furthermore, the closeness to the R&D center will enable customization of unique solutions for the Israeli market. This is a natural cooperation between both companies that believe in advanced technological solutions along with reliable support to the customer”

About Alexander Schneider Ltd.
As a leader in the field of data center management, Alexander Schneider Ltd. provides hi-performance products and Turn Key solutions for OEM systems and data center infrastructure, offering leading-edge products, integration services as well as engineering and design (NPI) capabilities. Alexander Schneider has been in business since 1963, with operations in Netanya, Israel and Rhode Island, USA.

For more information please visit their website.

SMB Nation - Bringing IT Together

In a comment in a post about getting to know SMB IT better, SMB Nation CEO Harry Brelsford was kind enough to recommend their site for inclusion in my research. After taking some time to look it over and join the “tribe”, I am pleased to see how much they offer the SMB IT professionals. There is much to learn from them.

SMB Nation reaches its audience with events and free webinars. Their next webinar: ”Not Just Another 50 cent Online Backup Service!“ is scheduled for tomorrow, December 11, 2008, 8AM PST (GMT-8).

Learn how the real VARs, MSPs and trusted advisors create revenue opportunities with remote online backup protection services. Learn how the latest compliance regulations will create long-term relationships and revenue streams for your business. Find out why those cheap backup services create a false sense of security and are not telling the whole story.

Register now at SMB Nation

They also offer most of their webinars on-demand, which is very helpful for someone who needs information right away.

I took the opportunity to get a closer look, and choose to watch “SMB Mergers and Acquisitions: Time to Sell Your SMB Practice?” It is well worth investing a little over one hour to hear their tips on how to run your business in a way that makes it ready to sell, and why you should run your business this way, even if you aren’t looking to sell.

Check out the other educational webinars available at SMB Nation.

2008 Year of The Milestone, according to Channel Web

Channel Web has published their pick of the best products of 2008.

The Test Center evaluated hundreds of products in 2008, from the palmtop to the data center and everything in between. In selecting each product of the year, Test Center editors needed to make sure that there was a critical offering to the market at large, significant value to the end user and immediate impact on how the lion's share of solution providers in the channel would think about and deliver technology.

Some of the products that made the cut are

• Notebook - WINNER: Lenovo ThinkPad X300
• Operating System - WINNER: Microsoft Windows Server 2008
• Web Application - WINNER: Firefox 3.0
• Smartphone - WINNER: iPhone 3G
• Product Of The Year - WINNER: Intel Modular Server

See the rest of the slideshow... including reasons why they choose these products to represent the best of 2008.

A Closer Look at SMB IT

I'm just getting in to the SMB IT industry from the marketing side of things and while researching, the first site that popped up in search was SMBITPROS.com. I did a quick overview and my initial impression is that this is a great resource for up to date, practical advice for this sector.

smbITpros.com cover topics that deal with SMB IT such as:

• Finances
• Managing
• Marketing
• Operations
• Sales
• Starting Up
• Technology

This is how they describe themselves:

"smbitpros.com is the ramblings of Michael Cooch and Josh Clifford, Founder/CEO and CSO (Chief Service Officer), respectively, of Everon Technology Services, LLC. Everon is a pioneer and leader in the SMB managed services space, serving clients around the United States and a handful of offices in Europe."

Their latest post “How to compensate salespeople when they sign longer term managed services contracts?” hit home with something Minicom manufactures. If you want to hear our perspective on managed service providers, listen to this podcast by David Zucker, Minicom’s Director of Business Development of the IT & KVM Division. David will explain how “managed service providers can now sell a KVM IP device as a monthly service” using Minicom’s PX.

The Minicom Media Club offers a variety of free podcasts and archived webinars for your enjoyment.

Mission Impossible – Destroy Data on a Stolen Laptop

When you work remotely or have the need to access and manage a server over IP, you will most likely be using a company laptop. What happens when you loose or misplace your laptop that has privileged or top secret information? It doesn’t matter who you are, if you ever lost your laptop or had it stolen you know the uneasy feeling of having someone finding it and looking at all your data.

Lenevos came out with a new feature that allows you to just send an SMS to it and everything self destructs. This is an ingenious invention. No doubt, someone came up with the idea after having their own laptop stolen or lost with top secret data on it. With all the fears of identity theft, even if it’s not for a corporate computer, I would want one for my personal use – there is way too much information on there.

Read the eWeek article with the new “Constant Secure Remote Disable” feature by Lenovos that will be available on certain ThinkPad notebooks equipped with mobile broadband.

Weekly News – Nov 20, 2008

Overview of industry headlines from across the web:

New Laptop USB KVM With Dual PC Control, File Transfer, and USB 2.0 Peripheral Access Unveiled by ATEN Technology – Market Watch - Key features include seamless file transfer between two computers, plug-and-play functionality, and access to USB 2.0 peripherals such as external storage drives. The device also adjusts the resolution of the remote desktop window to match the local computer monitor.

Raritan Acquires dcTrack Software to Bolster Data Center Power Management Capabilities – Market Watch - Adds visualization and tracking technologies for improving data center efficiency and reducing energy costs

ATEN Technology Launches New 8- and 16-Port Dual Channel CAT5 KVM Switches – Earth Times - The switches are eight and 16-port units that provide two operators with independent and simultaneous access to eight or 16 connected servers

IOGEAR is Named CES Innovations 2009 Design and Engineering Award Honoree – sys-con.com - IOGEAR's Wireless USB to VGA Kit enables HD video streaming up to 720p between a PC and TV or projector.

Minicom Road Show Report

19 IT Valued Added Resellers (VARs) got together last week for a 1 day sales certification program held in Santa Ana, California. They came to learn about Minicom’s KVM.net II innovative way of accessing and managing in-band tools like VNC and RDP with out-of-band tools like KVM, HP ILO and power - all from one portal.

One of the participants, Jim Mollencop, dataSPAN Territory Manager PNW had this to report:

“The certification program for KVM.net II was very informative and helpful! Not only does Minicom have a great IT solution that is simple to set up, use and sell at great margins, but also provides a great marketing tool for these tough economic times called “Minicom’s real needs approach”. Literally a few days after the training I visited a client and discussed the “real needs approach” and was immediately asked for a quote at the meeting.”

David Zucker, Minicom’s Director of KVM Business Development had this to say:

“Our partners were engaged, excited and participated more than I could have hoped for in a full day of training complete with demos and workshops. The IT resellers told us that Minicom's “Real Needs Approach” (Add-on Technology that maximizes your IT installed base) will be very compelling for their customers. The group sessions were tremendous and reconfirmed to us that we have some fantastic partners who know their stuff.”

To become a Certified Minicom KVM.net II value added reseller, please call Minicom at 1-888-486-2154 to register for the next training session.

In the meantime, you can download our free white papers such as “KVM IP Management for Today’s IT Budget” or videos such as “Achieving Remote Server KVM Access to your data center” to find out why we suggest not throwing out perfectly good KVM switches and serial devices just because you need to upgrade to an IP environment.

Webinar Invitation: Recession-proof Ways to Upgrade your Data Centers

Is the current economic climate delaying your plans to upgrade the data center? Now, more than ever, we need to concentrate on what are our Real Needs:

Remote access? Yes, that's a real need.
Replacing your perfectly good switches? Not so much.

This short webinar will focus on learning how you can give your Data Center's KVM infrastructure a facelift and transform it into a remotely accessible IP system without replacing your legacy KVM switches.

In this webinar, we will be focusing on
· Why we suggest not throwing out perfectly good KVM switches and serial devices just because you need to upgrade to an IP environment
· How you can save time, money, and training headaches by concentrating on your Real Needs
· What our competitors do not want you to know ---how to extend the life of your products.

Webinar Details:
Date: November 20, 2008
Time: 2:00 - 2:40 pm EST

CLICK HERE & REGISTER NOW

This free webinar has limited seats, please hurry and register.

Presented by David Zucker
Director, Business Development, KVM Division
Minicom Advanced Systems

Slowing Economy to Blame, Says Google

Slowing economy was a factor in Google’s decision to push back its construction timetable for the $600 million dollar data center facility being built on 800 acres of land in Pryor, Oklahoma.

Data Center Knowledge explains more details of the ramifications of the delay.

In addition, a huge advertising deal between Google and Yahoo was called off this week.

Google is also scheduled to close operations in Tempe, AZ at the end of November and relocate about 50 employees from the Arizona State University campus.

It's hard to ignore when the economy forces giants like Google to make budget cutbacks and downsize.

Article: Has the downturn hit the IT industry?

An article by By Jason Stamper at CBR IT services site gives some interesting insight on how technology firms are doing in the current economical crisis. Budget cuts and staff reductions affect every sector of the work force. Major layoffs are reported daily, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better, at least not in the USA. There is some good news for the UK though.

How are technology firms fairing as the crisis of confidence in the financial sector begins to ripple through the rest of the economy?

Despite the fact that technology has the potential to massively boost the productivity of individuals and companies, it rarely gets away scot free when there is any kind of stock market or economic crisis. ‘It was over-hyped.’ ‘It wasn’t innovative enough.’ ‘They didn’t even consider that the Year 2000 wasn’t that far off when they programmed their mainframes.’

So it comes as little surprise that technology has been implicated in the downfall of Bradford & Bingley, since its poorly integrated systems meant that its bosses did not have visibility into the real financial state of the building society when they most needed to know.

Bradford & Bingley’s chiefs said they didn’t need to raise funds with a rights issue, then they said they did need a rights issue, then they said they had priced the rights issue too low, and ultimately they said even a rights issue wasn’t enough to plug the leaks (more on this story on the CBR editor’s blog at tinyurl.com/6pn8l2).

Economic downturn
One thing is certain: the signs are not good for the broader economy right now. It’s getting harder and harder not to use ‘the r word’ – recession – because even the economists are saying that’s where we’re headed: "The sharp decline in service sector activity in September leaves little doubt that the economy contracted in the third quarter and is on its way into recession," said Howard Archer, chief UK economist at Global Insight, last month (http://tinyurl.com/6gnfbe).

But how are the technology companies themselves fairing against the backdrop of this latest economic crisis? Well if it’s a bellwether you are after, look no further than IBM. With a finger in almost every software, services and hardware pie, it’s not a bad reflection of how the technology sector as a whole is performing. The good news is that IBM did rather well overall in its third quarter, just announced. Total revenues were up 5% to $25.3bn; services revenue was up 8% and software revenue was up 12%. Net income was up 20% to $2.8bn.

The area of some concern for IBM is its hardware operation, or what it calls its Systems and Technology group. Revenue there was down 10%. It’s not what you’d expect though: the mainframe is going great guns with revenue from the System z up 25%. Its System p Unix boxes were up 7%, too. But the admittedly very cyclical System i (formerly iSeries, and before that AS/400) business was down 82%, and System x servers (Windows or Linux boxes) were down 18%.

Still, chairman, president and CEO Sam Palmisano was relatively upbeat: “Our results demonstrate that the combination of a steady base of recurring revenue and profits, a range of products and services that deliver value to clients worldwide, and a strong and flexible financial foundation give IBM a competitive edge in good times and tough times," he said. “We remain confident in our full-year 2008 outlook.”

SAP announced third quarter total sales up 14% to 2.7bn Euros. But net income was down 5% to 388m Euros.

Said SAP co-CEO Henning Kagermann, “The third quarter 2008 was SAP’s 19th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth in software and software-related service revenues at constant currencies. This was an achievement in a period where the global financial crisis had a significant impact on customer decisions towards quarter end.”

“Customers are continuing to spend on our products, but the economic and business environment is uncertain,” he said. “Our business model is flexible, and we are focusing on protecting our operating margins and earnings.”

Kagermann continued, “We are assessing business activity continuously, and we are balancing the need for greater efficiencies with steady advancements in our products, customer services and technologies, while addressing customers’ most critical business issues. This approach has worked well for customers and SAP throughout the up and down economic cycles of the past, and has contributed to SAP’s market leadership. We’ve been through uncertainty before, and have always emerged as a better, stronger and more efficient company.”
Tech sector holding steady?

Another bellwether, Oracle, had even better news when it announced its first quarter results in September. The erstwhile database vendor has been aggressively broadening into both applications and its Fusion Middleware in recent years, and the strategy seems still to be working. Total sales were up 18% to $5.3bn, and net income was up 28% to $1.1bn.

As for the UK, it seems the technology sector may actually be fairing slightly better than others in these tough times. Research by Ernst & Young last month found that the number of profit warnings from listed companies in the software & computer services sector in the UK has actually fallen despite the worsening economic climate. In Q3 of 2008 a total of 7 warnings were issued by 5 companies in the sector, compared to 9 over the same period in 2007.

Other sectors are not fairing so well. Across all sectors in the UK, 111 profit warnings were issued in the third quarter, up almost a third on 2007. Neither size nor status has proven to be of much insurance against the current downturn, Ernst & Young said.

James Bennet, technology director at Ernst & Young, commented: “Q3 has been less challenging for software and IT services companies, mostly because they went into the downturn slightly earlier than other sectors. We would however express caution about the climate and the likely health of the technology sector in the coming two quarters, particularly with the dramatic downturn in the overall economy.”