| 5-24-2004
ClearCube Provides Anytime, Anywhere Computing
Grid Center software dynamically allocates computing resources based on user needs
Austin, TX (May 24, 2004) - ClearCube Technology, the market leader
and pioneer in PC blade computing, today announced new functionality
for its ClearCube Management Suite (CMS). The fourth generation of the
software suite, which allows IT managers to remotely troubleshoot and
manage PC Blades includes two new products, Control Center and Grid Center.
Control Center is a unique management console that allows even the most
novice of IT administrators to use graphical scripts to manage PC Blades
anytime, from anywhere in the world. Grid Center enables administrators
to dynamically allocate PC Blade resources to I/Port users based on each
individual’s needs.
By deploying ClearCube, customers realize 99.9% uptime, stronger data
and physical security, and at least a 40% reduction in support costs
while providing end users
with a full PC or workstation experience.
“
A user’s computer should be on demand and scalable to meet their current
needs at anytime from anywhere,” said Amir Husain, Chief Software Architect
for ClearCube. “With Grid Center we are able to adapt our PC Blade infrastructure
providing a true end-to-end solution that is scalable from the user’s desk
to the most remote of locations. Control Center instills best practices across
the IT department by making management consistent from location to location.”
The ClearCube solution allows companies to take the computer off the user’s
desk, shrink it to a PC Blade and centralize the blades in a secure location.
User Ports that sit at the desk are either directly connected or dynamically
allocated to PC blades in the data center based on each user’s specific
needs.
The CMS 4.0 enables a “touchless IT” environment wherein IT managers
can remotely manage and control global business PC deployments without making
trips to the user desktop. New additions to CMS include:
Control Center is a unique management console that gives administrators
a single point of access to the full suite of ClearCube software and
includes easy to use asset management tools, a proactive alerting engine,
and a graphical scripting environment that enables system self-healing.
Control Center features include:
•
Remote systems management (organize, wake, shutdown and reboot PC Blades)
•
One-to-many PC Blade health monitoring/alerting based on programmable
triggers
•
Graphical creation of custom agents, simplifying scripting
•
Deployment of agent(s) to a single machine or the entire organization
Grid Center enables IT administrators to efficiently manage the virtual
connections between their ClearCube I/Port end-users and their centralized
PC Blades. Grid Center includes direct or dynamic allocation that lets
administrators maximize their resource utilization by intelligently allocating
I/Port users to pools of PC Blades. Dynamic user-to-blade assignments
are made based on processor loading at the time a user logs on to the
system.
Grid Center features include:
•
Dynamic or direct allocation of I/Ports to PC Blades
•
I/Port discovery, health monitoring, and update management
•
Simplified user logon
•
Administrator initiated connection redirection (i.e., switching) and
sparing
Additional upgrades to CMS include enhancements to the following remote
management tools:
Blade Manager provides PC Blade health monitoring and asset management
on a one-to-one basis.
Blade Manager features include:
•
No longer LANDesk based. Built from the ground up using a ClearCube designed
architecture and code baseDirect integration with alerting engine built-in
to ClearCube Control Center
•
Direct integration with ClearCube Switch Manager for out-of-band Blade
monitoring of CPU temperature, voltage and fan speed
•
Full support for CIM and DMTF standards
Switch Manager gives IT administrators the ability to eliminate downtime
by immediately switching a user to a hot, spare PC blade in the event
of a problem. By quickly switching users to spares in the event of a
problem, rather than making them wait for a desk-side visit, Switch Manager
enables uptime that exceeds 99.9%. New features include built-in management
of ClearCube Cage assets including fans and power supplies, more flexible
interfaces to third-party tools, and enhanced security and logon features.
Data Failover is a peer-to-peer backup and recovery tool—for use
with PC Blades and standard box PCs. Data Failover is unique in that
it virtualizes the unused hard disk space on users’ Blades and
PCs and makes it available for backing up user settings and data. New
features include advanced disaster recovery management and visualization
via multi-site backups and more efficient settings capture.
“
Blade computing is one of the leading technologies that is expected to
dramatically change the corporate desktop during the next three years,” said
Rob Enderle, Principal Analyst for the Enderle Group. “The current
generations of PCs do not adequately provide the level of security and
reliability required by today's enterprise and as a result, PC blades
were created. ClearCube has moved sharply to address these needs by improving
remote systems management, using RDP and direct connect solutions at
the desktop to address user's needs, and increasing desktop PC reliability
to a level consistent with server blades.”
About ClearCube Technology
ClearCube Technology is the pioneer and market leader in PC Blade computing
solutions. ClearCube enables customers to reduce their support costs
while dramatically improving availability and security throughout their
computing infrastructure all while improving the end-user’s experience. For
more information, visit www.clearcube.com.
Contact:
Ken Knotts
ClearCube Technology
512.652.3425
ken@clearcube.com
Maureen Robusto
Text 100
617-399-4916
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