Avtech Gives Admins peace of Mind that Their Facilities Are Protected

The anxiety that IT and data center managers experience when they realise it’s “too late” to protect critical data and equipment is considerable. The good news is there’s a company that specialises in making sure your IT environment is always protected. AVTECH [supplied by OPENXTRA] specializes in environmental monitoring equipment that keeps an eye on data center facilities, monitoring for potentially dangerous changes in temperature, humidity, power, and more...

...According to Michael Sigourney, senior product specialist at AVTECH (www.AVTECH.com), some of the company’s customers include many of the world’s most secure data centers and other recognised facilities, including the White House and Pentagon. AVTECH’s main offerings are its TemPageR (temperature monitor) and Room Alert (critical environment monitors) products, which let IT admins monitor environmental conditions such as temperature, power failures, flooding, smoke, and fire.

Sigourney presents the scenario of walking into your data center on a Monday morning after a relaxing weekend away with family, only to find that there was an incident outside the office building that knocked the power out in the entire office. “As you enter the data center, you find that the backup generator you installed last month did not turn on, and the $50,000+ worth of equipment you were storing is dead and all your information is lost,” he says. With AVTECH’s protection, Sigourney says, you’re alerted and can take automatic corrective action to avoid this scenario, ultimately saving you time, money, and possibly even your job.

The Industry In AVTECH’s Eyes

At the root of any business operation is its IT infrastructure, Sigourney says, whether large or small. He elaborates, “In a world that is so dependent on the Web and other communication technologies to perform simple, everyday tasks, what happens in the data center can either make or break an organization’s success.” He says that for many years, data center managers have focused on establishing disaster recovery plans to return a business to normal operation as soon as possible after a catastrophe. “However, little has been accomplished to establish proactive disaster prevention plans that can prevent the catastrophe from occurring at all,” Sigourney says. “In many cases, tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment can be damaged and then need to be replaced and reconfigured as part of the disaster recovery ‘plan.’”

Sigourney says in today’s seemingly unstable economy, protecting the assets and infrastructure of a business from costly disasters is critical. “If you proactively monitor environments that house expensive equipment and you are able to take automatic corrective action when an issue occurs, you can potentially save your organization tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost business [and] equipment repair or replacement,” Sigourney says. “It’s for this reason that AVTECH is committed to working with organizations around the world to implement a proactive disaster prevention approach using Room Alert, TemPageR, and our other products.” He says that, with customers around the world, AVTECH is pleased to lead the market in technical developments in the area of IT and facilities environment monitoring.

Product Lineup

According to Sigourney, AVTECH offers modular solutions that fit any environmental monitoring need. Products range from temperature-only monitoring products to high-end wireless models. Sigourney says all AVTECH products include licenses for the company’s powerful PageR Enterprise and Device ManageR software as well as the first year of MSUS (Maintenance, Support, and Update Services) at no charge. A quick rundown of the company’s products reveals a list of items that are useful to small and midsized enterprises. Take the Room Alert 26W, for example: AVTECH’s most advanced hardware solution monitors the environment, alerts you when issues arise, and offers automatic corrective action and wireless sensor monitoring. The device can monitor up to 86 total sensors and can also send alert notifications via email, email-to-SMS, and SNMP to PCs, mobile phones, iPhones, BlackBerrys, and PDAs. Other Room Alert models offer the same protection; the main difference is the number of sensors that each one hosts.

According to Sigourney, AVTECH’s products offer IT managers a proactive approach to monitoring the environments in their data centers and other facilities. He says that malfunctioning air conditioning or inadequate cooling continues to be the biggest threat to infrastructure in the data center, followed by power interruption and water or flooding. He says these environmental threats are typically invisible until disaster strikes. “When it does,” he says, “the immediate response of Room Alert or TemPageR can save the day.”

Bright Future

Sigourney says AVTECH is set to release several new environmental monitors at both the high and low ends of the company’s product line. “We will continue to expand and promote the Room Alert and Tem-PageR brand names as industry leaders for function and reliability,” he says. “New sensors are in development and will be released soon to broaden end-user options and increase the benefits to a myriad of customer types.” He also says that AVTECH will continue to invest in research and development to remain the worldwide technology leader in the IT environment monitoring field.

As the industry leader, AVTECH isn’t afraid to try something new, either. “With continued development and improvement to our software, we listen to customer feedback and we are always releasing new and improved hardware to make the monitoring and management of today’s data centers and facilities easy and cost-effective,” Sigourney says. “Our dynamic product line and commitment to our customers enables us to serve over 110,000 end users at more than 35,000 organizations across 104 countries and Antarctica.” Sigourney says that what really sets AVTECH apart from the competition are its cutting-edge technology, commitment to customers, and powerful software.

Reproduced from an article by Chris A. MacKinnon at Processor.com

Company Information Company Name: AVTECH Software Location: Warren, R.I. URL: www.AVTECH.com Date Company Founded: 1988

Interesting Fact AVTECH serves more than 80% of the Fortune 1000 companies.

Avtech enviromental monitors are available from OPENXTRA Click here