Raritan Smart Data Center Solutions for Managing Virtualization, Security and Energy to be Shown at Government Event
       By: Raritan
Posted: 2009-03-07 04:04:40
Raritan's suite of solutions for helping government information technology (IT) professionals manage a number of growing data center issues -- including virtualization sprawl, security risks and rising energy costs and consumption -- will be shown at next week's FOSE conference event, in Raritan booth #1723.

Raritan will unveil at the conference its new Dominion(R) KX II Smart Card / CAC solution that delivers smart card-authentication security for accessing data center servers. The solution -- designed to work with smart cards and readers that meet the ISO 7816 standard -- supports the U.S. government's Common Access Cards (CACs) and Personal Identity Verification (PIV) cards. The KVM-over-IP solution also enables card readers to be placed where they are most convenient to IT administrators -- including outside the data center.

"Our smart card solutions are designed to meet the increasing demands on data center security and new requirements, such as the President's HSPD-12 identification and cyber security directives," said Anthony Bonaventura, Capitol Region Sales Director at Raritan. "We are pleased to be able to share with FOSE attendees our new Dominion KX II Smart Card / CAC solution for added security in accessing and managing data center servers over IP networks." The solution will be available in the second quarter of 2009.

Raritan's first smart card solution, available as an option with the company's Paragon(R) II KVM switch, has achieved approval under FIPS 201. This solution -- which is used today by a number of federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense -- is the first and only enterprise analog KVM switch with an integrated smart-card reader.

Intelligent Power Management

Raritan also will be showing its new suite of power management solutions, including Dominion PX intelligent power distribution units (PDUs) and the Power IQ(TM) energy management virtual appliance.

Based on the simple premise that you can't manage it if you can't measure it, Raritan's solutions provide real-time, detailed power information on each server plugged into an intelligent power strip. Instead of just an aggregate view of power usage in a data center, administrators can now obtain a clear picture of the power consumed by each individual server. As a result, data center managers can pinpoint energy inefficient servers to decommission; generate baseline and ongoing energy consumption reports by data center, rack or customer/department; track improvements from energy saving initiatives; and monitor temperature for identifying inefficient overcooling or dangerous hot spots. They can also find unused and underused power capacity. Power IQ analyzes power data collected from Raritan PX and third-party rack PDUs, including APC(R) and Server Technology(R).

"Raritan's power management solutions will be useful for organizations that are taking steps to support the Federal government's efforts to improve energy efficiency," added Bonaventura. "Our solutions will be particularly helpful in supporting the Green IT-EO13423 Executive Order to reduce federal energy consumption."

The Green IT Executive Order requires Federal agencies to lead by example in advancing the nation's energy security and environmental performance by achieving a number of goals - including reducing energy usage by 30 percent by 2015.

Managing a Mix of Virtual and Physical Servers with CommandCenter(R) Secure Gateway Management System

Server virtualization has gained ground in data centers because of its success in reducing hardware costs and related expenses. However, the fluidity of moving applications among servers has added extra management complexity -- from how best to access servers to security and authorization. In fact, managing a virtual server may require several management tools. Virtual, physical, and blade servers are all supported in the new release of Raritan's CommandCenter Secure Gateway (CC-SG) -- best known for simplifying the management of heterogeneous IT environments through a unified portal.

To deliver accurate, real-time IT infrastructure views, CC-SG keeps tabs on the migration of data between virtual and physical machines. From a single dashboard screen, users can view all IT assets, organize them in logical views of their choosing, and launch the best remote access and management tool for the job, including third-party tools. Accessed by logging onto a single IP address, CC-SG eliminates time-consuming multiple logins and the need to open multiple interfaces in order to reach a specific server or group of servers.

CC-SG's new Neighborhood configuration option also will be shown at FOSE. The flexible neighborhood architecture enables multiple CC-SG units to be deployed across the enterprise to best match an organization's IT access and management needs.

About Raritan (Raritan.com)

Raritan provides secure IT infrastructure management solutions that increase data center efficiency and productivity by delivering integrated in-band and out-of-band energy management, server access and control. Raritan's power management software, intelligent PDU, environmental sensors, KVM, serial console and centralized management products are in use in more than 50,000 locations worldwide. Raritan's OEM division provides embedded hardware and firmware for server and client management, including intelligent energy management, KVM over IP, IPMI and other industry standards-based management applications. Based in Somerset, N.J., Raritan has offices worldwide serving 76 countries.
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