HP Armada 7300 Intelligent Manageability for Armada Portable PCs - Page 13

INTELLIGENT MANAGEABILITY FOR ARMADA PORTABLE PRODUCTS (cont.) ... INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT Intelligent Manageability features like AssetControl and various Alert capabilities are pre-installed on all Armada portable PCs. Apart from the benefits to local users when on the road or in a standalone environment, Intelligent Manageability can be even more effective when managed remotely from a central location by a PC and LAN administrator. It is true that most Intelligent Manageability features can be managed locally by the end-user but automatically managing Armada Intelligent Manageability features over the network yields the greatest impact when attempting to lower the costs of PC computing. By managing over the network, the PC administrator minimizes the amount of time spent travelling from end-user office to office. In addition, better management over the network results in a more controlled and consistent PC computing environment. Intelligent Manageability provides three mechanisms for managing Armada PCs over the network: Compaq Insight Manager, Management Solutions Partners, and the Desktop Management Interface. All of these solutions are complementary because each provides unique capabilities for managing PCs over the network. Compaq Insight Manager Compaq Insight Manager is the best tool for proactively managing hardware problems and configurations associated with desktops, portables, servers and workstations from Compaq. Within the realm of Intelligent Manageability, Compaq Insight Manager delivers asset tracking solutions and Fault Management over the network. It provides detailed information about Compaq PCs connected to the network and it is able to receive network alerts from Compaq PCs when problems are detected. The intent here is to provide proactive notification before problems become critical and the right configuration information so that a PC technician sent out to solve the problem can bring the appropriate equipment and parts to quickly solve the problem. Lower costs associated with minimal end-user downtime and faster service calls are the result. Compaq Insight Manager is run on a console that communicates with Insight Management Agents running on each managed device via industry standard SNMP. Compaq Armada portable PCs come with the Insight Management Agent pre-installed, but the agent software is also available on the Support Software CD and the Compaq WWW site (www.compaq.com). The agent must be enabled on each Armada PC and SNMP services must be enabled to connect with Compaq Insight Manager. Instructions for installing the agent and SNMP services are included with the agent software. Instructions for installing and using Compaq Insight Manager are also available. The newest features described throughout this document require Compaq Insight Manager Version 3.50 and the Insight Management Agent for Armada portable PCs Version 3.50. Compaq Management Solutions Partners Program Complementing the integration with Compaq Insight Manager, the Management Solutions Partners Program delivers the best Asset Management solutions over the network. Integrating with leadingedge third party PC LAN and enterprise management providers, Compaq is able to deliver de facto standard solutions that far surpass other vendor offerings. When developing this program, Compaq worked extensively with each Solutions Partner to support their development and integration efforts. In particular, Compaq provided each partner with specifications and technical guidance regarding how to extract AssetControl information. Compaq also performed extensive tests to ensure that the hardware/software partnerships deliver reliable data. 13