Avocent, which employs over 100 people at the company’s international headquarters and research and development (R&D) centre at Shannon, has won a contract to supply network connectivity technologies to data storage equipment manufacturer EMC in Cork.
The US-based network technology vendor will supply its AMX server management system to EMC, which operates a major manufacturing and customer support centre in Cork in addition to a newly-established 5,500 sq ft data centre.
The contract is being fulfilled by Enterprise Solutions Ltd, Avocent’s national distributor in Ireland.
The value of the deal was not disclosed.
Known as Keyboard, Video and Mouse technologies (KVM), Avocent’s systems enable companies to access multiple servers and computers from a single point of control on a 24×7 basis.
AMX can drive servers up to 1,000 ft away from the controllers’ desks and can patch into and access servers using the cabling on site.
From their desktops, controllers can also overview what’s happening across the network and work directly on individual servers as required.
Avocent’s AMX is designed to support growing server installations allowing simultaneous control and operation of multiple servers independently of each other.
It supports multi-user, multi-platform and multi-rack server environments and provides end-to-end CAT 5 connectivity for access from the desk to the server.
The system comprises an analogue matrix switch, a CAT 5 cable interface, a user station, an onscreen management tool and a Java-based system administration software tool.
Each server is also given a unique identification, which eases configuration and facilitates security procedures, including access authorisation and event tracking.
Avocent’s network management system is scalable to manage several thousand servers.
By Brian Skelly
