Kaseya IT Automation Framework software now includes User State Management
The concern over the environmental impact from the increased usage of computing technology has far reaching ramifications on the sustainability of IT business operations. Already increasing energy costs and expanding power utilization needs are having a direct impact on business profitability. Add to this the social concerns for the global climate crisis, and conservation efforts that have led to regulatory compliant initiatives, and businesses are increasingly pressured to find new solutions to ensuring IT business implementations are more eco-friendly. Chief among these initiatives is to develop improvements that increase energy efficiency and eliminate power wasted by inactive servers and workstations. Fortunately, solutions to this problem exist today. Businesses can and should implement a green computing solution, not only to contribute to the global environmental movement, but also to decrease operating expenses and boost profitability.
As an example, in February 2008, Kaseya has announced a User State Management add-on module to its popular IT Automation Framework solution. Understanding that green computing requires 24 hour power management, Kaseya has divided its solution into two distinct energy management process sets - working hour’s power management and after hour’s power management. During working hours, power policies are created to determine under what conditions systems should have screens powered down, discs powered down or the system placed in hibernation mode. Since these policies can be applied to groups of systems, implementations and maintenance of the policy is greatly simplified and can be performed by a single administrator from a single interface. A side benefit of this solution is that the security is enhanced and systems become inaccessible when not in use and require a password authentication to be re-enabled.
Kaseya has also provided functionality to deal with complex after hour IT requirements. Naturally, system power downs can be scheduled or manually initiated from the central interface just as they can during working hours, but by also enabling scheduled power up events, some very sophisticated policies can be developed to work around system back-ups, virus scans, patch installations, and other maintenance requirements. This ability is enabled by leveraging features available in today’s new chips, such as the Intel Core 2 processor with vPro, which supports Intel’s Active Management Technology to allow remote out-of-band management of workstations. The vPro Technology also provides a wealth of information about processor activity and status that can be accessed and reported by Kaseya’s interface.
The environmental issues addressed by Kaseya’s solution do not stop with energy efficiency. By enabling remote administration, problem diagnosis and remediation, Kaseya IT Automation software significantly reduces the number of physical house calls IT administrators need to make to customer sites and remote offices. Less transportation use translates into increased savings on the total “carbon footprint” of the IT implementation and business utilization. What’s more, Kaseya fully supports a virtualized environment. Since virtualization both reduces electronic wastes and consolidates critical processing to only one of a few servers, eliminating redundant operating services, promotion of it use further contribute to environmental sustainability.
Regardless of which systems management solutions is ultimately chosen to achieve company’s green computing goals, it is important to establish an environmental policy that supports both business and social community objectives. This may require a restructuring of organizational responsibilities with respect to who is accountable for power usage. Policy change is never easy to implement but the benefits clearly outweigh the difficulties in establishing an eco-friendly IT policy that provides good public relations, helps achieve long-term business environmental sustainability and significantly reduces existing overhead costs associated with rising power expenses and needs.
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