infoTECH Feature

October 05, 2011

Opengear Spreads the Word about Expanded ARMS Functionality at Interop

In addition to having the very important task at Interop (News - Alert) 2011 of helping manage all of the equipment at InteropNet – the high-speed network that serves all the exhibitors, conference rooms and attendees – Opengear (News - Alert) had another item on its agenda for the New York City trade show.

The provider of next generation console server and remote management solutions was keen on spreading the word that it has expanded its Automated Remote Management and Support (ARMS) functionality across all of its product lines.

“The goal of the expansion is that we provide a platform that gives you the ability to automate the troubleshooting of networking devices and proactively monitor and take action on that device when an event you don’t want happens,” Todd Rychecky, vice president of sales of North and South America for Opengear told TMCnet Wednesday. “We had it in a couple of our product lines but now we offer it from one to 48 ports. It’s offered across our whole product line right now.”

Opengear first launched automated response functionality at Interop Las Vegas earlier this year with the Opengear Smart ACM5000 and Smart IM4200. After receiving positive feedback from customers, Opengear decided to expand its automated response functionalities to all of its product lines from $129 device servers up to $3,500 enterprise cellular 3G console servers.

ARMS capabilities offer system administrators remote, secure and instant automated remediation. Opengear offers a programmable and customizable "rule book" with schedules of corrective actions that can be taken in response to defined events. For example, in the event of ping failure on a managed device, alerts can be sent, devices can be reset or custom scripts run, according to company officials. Moreover, if a critical UPS battery level is reached a more graceful shutdown can be initiated before the system shuts down.

Opengear is a manufacturer of next generation console servers and satellite routers for managing network infrastructure, firewalls, PBXs, power, UPS and PDUs; in other words, it’s the automated component to  make sure the network is always up, according to Rychecky.

Since its inception in 2004, Opengear has gone on to attract a wide range of big name customers including HP and F5 Technologies. The company spans all the different verticals, the four branches of the military, large hedge funds, and financial institutions.

“We appeal to anybody that is looking to make sure that there branch offices are up and running,” Rychecky said. “… We bring peace of mind.”

As the demand for uptime burgeons, Opengear maintains its competitive edge because of its open source platform, which is characterized as being extremely flexible and customizable.

“Those are the two biggest things about our product,” Rychecky said. “We offer a lot of things in IT that our competitors don’t but how we are really different is that we are flexible…  We are not into the proprietary software solution that any of our competitors offer; it’s open source.”

So what’s next for Opengear?

“We are looking at new product developments and improving our current product line,” Rychecky said. “We are also looking at new vertical markets, hardware platforms, and things we can do to hit the market that will keep the company on a steep curve northeast.”


Carrie Schmelkin is a Web Editor for TMCnet. Previously, she worked as Assistant Editor at the New Canaan Advertiser, a 102-year-old weekly newspaper, covering news and enhancing the publication's social media initiatives. Carrie holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and a bachelor's degree in English from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Rich Steeves
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