Avocent DSR4010 User manual

The Power of Being There®
Case Study
Alberta Newsprint turns centralized server
management into a success story
“Thanks to Avocent, we can now
remotely access our system from
anywhere, anytime, regardless
of whether our system is failing
at the moment. That’s a huge
benefit!”
Stephen Tapp
Systems Engineer
Alberta Newsprint Company
Alberta Newsprint Company is one of North America’s leading manufacturers of premium
quality newsprint. With over 200 employees located in offices ranging from the main office
in Whitecourt, Alberta, to a satellite office in Vancouver, B.C. and three additional offices in
the U.S., Alberta Newsprint serves a broad range of customers in Canada and the U.S.
Old technology is bad news
When you are responsible for ensuring there is a steady supply of newsprint for North
America’s news hungry consumers, it requires you to produce 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
That is why Alberta Newsprint maintains an around the clock production environment, and
why it is important to ensure that IT support is readily available. Because, if an IT problem
arises or a critical server goes down, the result could mean a serious interruption to
product supply – and a lot of unhappy customers.
Alberta Newsprint’s IT department consisted of three staff and 50 servers utilizing older
technology, which essentially created a number of redundant stations, multiple computers
and a cabling mess that would rival some of the densest jungles in South America. And
since some of the servers were maintained in remote locations, if there was a problem,
there was no fast, convenient solution. And production downtime would result.
According to Stephen Tapp, Systems Engineer, Alberta Newsprint Company, “We were using
older remote control software that relied on the system being up and running. So, if our
system had problems, we couldn’t utilize our remote control solution. And the longer the
system was down, the more problems we would have in recovery in terms of data loss and
other systems impacted. We needed a new digital solution. One that would not only provide
reliable remote access and the ability to share and collaborate on KVM sessions, but also
please the financial guardians in our accounting department.”
Avocent solution is good news.
Since Tapp had enjoyed previous success with older Avocent solutions, he was confident that
Avocent would have the digital solution they needed. "When we began looking at the market,
Avocent was the only KVM solution provider offering digital technology,” states Tapp.

Ultimately, Alberta Newsprint selected an
Avocent DSR®KVM over IP switching system.
Complete with click and connect DSView®
management software, the DSR Series
is considered the premier KVM over IP
solution for enterprise installations.
It provides powerful server and serial device
management from anywhere, CAT 5 cable
management, centralized authentication
and administration, and unlimited user and
server scalability.
With DSView software, users have easy click
and connect access and control of all their
servers; anytime, anywhere. Alberta Newsprint
IT personnel have the power to view and
manage all connected data centre devices
on one screen – regardless of whether the
devices are a mix of multi-platform servers,
routers and power devices – or located in
offices around the world.
Implementation leads to immediate
benefits
Implementation of the new Avocent solution
went very well and realization of the benefits
of the new system was immediate and most
welcomed. The new Avocent solution
enabled the Alberta Newsprint IT department
to increase the quickness of response time,
decrease travel and production downtime
and provide better overall support for their
critical production operations.
“Our new Avocent solution completely
addresses our centralized management
consolidation issue,” says Tapp.
“The system is totally configurable, so it
meets our security requirements and we
now have “anywhere, anytime” remote
access with a sufficient level of bandwidth
that is not dependent on the system being
up and running.”
“Our response time is much quicker so
problems are a lot less likely to get out of
control. The new CAT 5 cabling has literally
cleaned up our cable jungle, and most
importantly, two people can now remotely
collaborate on the same problem at the
same time and it doesn’t affect the server
performance at all. Those are fantastic
benefits,” adds Tapp.
But the biggest benefit by far, has to be what
Tapp calls a ‘thing of the past’. That’s
because, previously when there were system
problems, Tapp would receive calls from
upper management and other departments
saying that they were unable to respond fast
enough. Thankfully, says Tapp, “Those calls
are now a thing of the past.”
The story continues
IT and management staff at Alberta Newsprint
are extremely pleased with the Avocent
solution. It has enabled Alberta Newsprint to
help achieve their business goals by providing
a very efficient method to access servers –
locally and remotely – and take total control of
their systems.
That is why Alberta Newsprint plans to stay
with Avocent solutions in the future.
“As technology evolves, I believe Avocent will
be able to continue to not only meet our needs,
but surpass our expectations as well,”
concludes Tapp.
About Avocent
Avocent is the leading worldwide supplier
of KVM switching, remote access and serial
connectivity solutions that provide IT
managers with access and control of multiple
servers and network data centre devices.
Branded products include switching,
extension, intelligent platform management
interface (IPMI), wireless, mobile and video
display solutions. Avocent KVM solutions
are distributed by the world’s largest server
manufacturers and installed in Fortune 100
companies around the world.
Headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama,
Avocent has sales, operations and R&D
centres worldwide. Visit www.avocent.ca for
more information about Avocent products.
Avocent Canada
Toll-free Tel: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
Avocent, the Avocent logo, The Power of Being There, DSView
and DSR are registered trademarks of Avocent Corporation.
All other marks are the property of their respective owners.
Copyright © 2005. Avocent Corporation.
1005-NH-CS
20 Mural Street, Unit 5
Richmond Hill, Ontario L4B 1K3 Canada
Toll Free Tel: [phone]
Web Site: www.avocent.ca
Avocent DSR switching solutions offer a flexible,
scalable design that works with existing network
infrastructures.