Avocent Introduces Avocent MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer

HUNTSVILLE, Ala, - Avocent Corporation, a global leader in IT Operations Management, today announced a powerful new offering for managing the data center. Avocent MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer is a software platform that integrates resource management (heat, cooling, power, and space) with asset management, providing a centralized automated view of these resources from a single location and with a single product. Avocent MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer provides the most detailed view ever of data center conditions and assets and offers ways to design and run a data center more effectively.

"It's clear from talking to customers that the traditional domains of facilities and IT are merging," said Avocent CEO, Michael Borman. "Companies need tools for accurate real-time measurements to optimize existing data centers and for planning new data centers with the assurance of having sufficient capacity for servers and cooling equipment. They want to view and manage their environment using one management tool. Avocent MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer accomplishes these goals, effectively eliminating the need for multiple point products currently available on the market."

By utilizing the advanced modeling features within Avocent MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer, an organization can identify specific discrepancies between where power and cooling resources are available and where they are ultimately needed. Reducing these discrepancies enables the significant reduction in overall power and cooling consumption in data centers. When paired with technology such as probes, intelligent power distribution units (IPDUs), and switches placed in the data center, its advanced user-friendly interface gives IT managers a complete view of data center conditions and the ability to catalog, plan, track and define outcomes with capacity planning and asset management.

Therefore, companies save by eliminating the need to manually update the spreadsheet and flat files common in today's data center operations, and by reclaiming the time now spent repeating processes and checking for errors.

Asset Lifecycle Management Integration - Rounding Out Avocent's Asset Management SolutionOrganizations today can greatly benefit from better management of hardware and software assets (licenses) from inception, to production, to disposal. Avocent MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer integrates with the newest version of Avocent's LANDesk?? Asset Lifecycle Manager version 3.5 (ALM) to enable this capability. It provides a dynamic view of data center layout and change proposals. IT managers can track asset allocation by identifying and cataloging the necessary information and passing it through the unified platform, run book automation, and the new processes required to automate IT operations, such as trouble ticketing, allocating, and reporting.

Data Center Management with Avocent DSView 3 Manager Integration

Avocent MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer can also be configured to leverage Avocent's DSView 3 flagship software for managing data centers. DSView3 allows remote management and troubleshooting of traditional and virtual servers and manages Avocent's intelligent power distribution units (IPDUs). DSView 3 also provides access to data centers via Avocent's KVM switching families, such as Avocent MergePoint Unity, and the Avocent DSR?? KVM-over-IP family.

Third-Party Software Integration

Avocent MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer provides a foundation for third-party software integration. This enables a powerful open standards-based approach to managing even more aspects of the IT operations in organizations today. Avocent offers application programming interfaces (APIs) to its partners and others who desire to integrate their solutions for the data center with Avocent's.Avocent Management Platform

At the core of Avocent's software technology is a platform known as AMP, the Avocent Management Platform upon which both Avocent MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer and Avocent's LANDesk Asset Lifecycle Manager operates. AMP is the enabler of integration across the software product set, and Avocent plans to integrate all its IT operations management tools on the AMP platform. This open standards based platform will also allow for the standardized interface for integration of third party solutions to add and extend the value of Avocent solutions.

New Ease of Operations Management - Facilities and IT Come Together

Complex and costly business problems now often require the attention of both IT and facilities. Avocent MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer bridges the gap. A company's facilities managers have the responsibility for building out and maintaining all data center operations, including managing assets for chain-of-custody and building provisioning. Better management of assets, power, cooling, and space in data centers is a large part of that challenge. Facilities and IT managers alike must balance and manage an entire continuum of business concerns driven by company growth, mergers, or acquisitions. Today's managers deal with more assets, more people, more time zones, and more managed endpoints/locations - and are balancing that with the need for cost reductions and staffing to scale. IT must also manage compliance and audit preparation and response, and requirements for business controls (SOX, BSA, HIPAA, etc.) under new regulations. These problems can be solved by merging the functions of IT and facilities with the aid of Avocent MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer.

"Providing a deeper look at data center assets and monitoring power, heat and other environmental factors in real time is the next frontier for data centers," said Dennis Drogseth Vice President, Enterprise Management Associates. "With MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer, Avocent provides a way to map the outcome before you build or rebuild a data center. With a clear and detailed view of racks, servers and other equipment, and the ability to track expected power expenditure and cooling needs - smarter ROI decisions can be made, and IT can become the prime enabler of an organization's 'Green strategy'."Avocent MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer is available now. More information on this product can be found at www.avocent.com.

About Avocent Corporation

Avocent delivers IT operations management solutions that reduce operating costs, simplify management and increase the availability of critical IT environments 24/7 via integrated, centralized software. Additional information is available at www.avocent.com.