SyAM Software Server Monitor Central is the product of choice for SMBs who want an affordable, easy to use, easy to learn systems management tool for managing servers, PCI RAID storage systems, desktops, and notebooks.
Affordable
At SyAM Software, we recognize that SMBs simply cannot afford systems management tools that have a hefty initial price tag and require expensive training and support. That's why we've created a solution that works within the budget of SMBs. Server Monitor Central costs only $179 per server license. Best of all, it is so intuitive to use that most administrators do not require expensive and time-consuming training to become proficient on Server Monitor Central. This product will pay for itself in just weeks through reduced energy costs, reduced maintenance costs, and increased administrator productivity.
Power Management
Server Monitor Central has built-in Power Management capabilities that can help reduce a company's power consumption by as much as 40% or more. Server Monitor Central allows administrators to create power policies for desktops and notebooks and enforce them without any intervention by end-users. Each system connected to a network can be configured by IP address for a scheduled graceful shutdown. We define a graceful shutdown as comprised of three phases: applications, OS, hardware. Administrators configure once and shutdowns are then automatic. In the morning, users can reboot their machines or they can be configured for "Wake-On-LAN".
Storage Management
Server Monitor Central has built-in storage management capabilities that can help reduce complexity in two key ways. First, many manufacturers' management consoles can be very difficult to use. It is not uncommon to find PCI RAID systems where the management consoles have never or rarely been utilized. Server Monitor Central, by comparison, offers management capabilities that are very easy to use and understand. Administrators can begin to manage storage systems in just minutes because of our intuitive integrated system and user interface. Second, if an environment contains PCI RAID systems from multiple manufacturers, administrators would have to learn how to manage the systems in different ways, which can be very time consuming, because of proprietary interfaces. Server Monitor Central eliminates this waste of time by allowing all PCI RAID systems to be managed through one console. One system to learn saves a great deal of time. For more information on our compatibility with various storage systems, please visit RAID Compatibility.
Server Monitor Central also helps manage storage systems with other convenient features. It monitors disk capacity and utilization and can be programmed to send alerts based on reaching certain configurable thresholds. This allows administrators to control disk capacity based on their requirements. It also monitors and notifies administrators of the presence of removable devices.
Monitoring
Proactive monitoring, alerting, and resolution can add years of life to a system and increase the productivity of end-users tremendously. Server Monitor Central has very powerful monitoring capabilities.
Systems level monitoring tracks fan speeds, temperature, voltage, power redundancy, single-bit and multi-bit memory module errors, network connectivity, and physical intrusions.
Centralized monitoring tracks system absence, Platform Event Traps, and asset changes for both software and hardware assets. This allows administrators to know if users are adding applications or hardware devices that may be causing issues. Please note that software monitoring for Linux systems is not available.
Alerting
Alerts allow administrators to choose the best course of action to resolve issues. Server Monitor Central has very powerful and wide-ranging alerting capabilities. While the monitoring features noted above track system parameters, the alerting functions notify administrators when operations exceed given thresholds. Ongoing alerts can be configured for sample and reset periods that allow time to pass before alerts are resent. Alerts at the system level can be sent to email, SMS/pager, the Central Event Log, SNMP, and system event log (MOM).
Centralize alerting can also be configured for email, SMS/pager, and SNMP. Best of all, centralized alerts can be configured for different users so that administrators assigned to different departments or functions can be alerted on issues that directly concern them.
Remote Resolution
One of the biggest drains on the productivity of administrators is making multiple trips to fix a problem: one trip to diagnose, one trip to install new hardware or software, and one follow-up trip to ensure everything is working properly. SyAM Software's Server Monitor Central greatly impacts the productivity of administrators by reducing or eliminating the need for desk-side visits. Our products empower administrators to drill down to the root cause of problems, whether they are hardware or software based. For hardware-based issues, administrators can identify the cause of the problem and bring the correct components on the first visit, reducing desk-side service to one trip. Follow up monitoring can then occur remotely. Software issues can often be resolved remotely. Without having to leave their desks, administrators can literally "take over" a machine at the keyboard, video, mouse level and reconfigure systems properly.
Asset Management
Asset management is an issue for nearly every organization. Technology systems need to be monitored for their physical whereabouts, their hardware configuration, and their software versions and approved applications. However, tracking down all of this information can be a real nightmare and drain on administrator's productivity. Fortunately, Server Monitor Central virtually eliminates the need for manual asset tracking. The agents in Desktop and Notebook Monitor gather asset information dynamically and report it to the central management console. Administrators can then run reports at both a summary level, which includes basic hardware and software information, and at a detailed level, which includes highly detailed information such as the serial numbers on disks, memory modules and other components.
Vendor Neutrality
Server Monitor Central has been tested to support virtually any popular brand of hardware. For a complete list of supported systems, please see Server Compatibility.
Intel AMTTM Support
Server Monitor Central has built in features that allow AMT information to report directly to the central management console. This feature enables servers, desktops, and notebooks to be monitored and managed for both SyAM Software features and AMT features in one centrally managed console.
Common Interface
Server Monitor Central provides a user interface that is common to all brands of hardware it manages. This eliminates dependence on proprietary interfaces that OEMs sometimes ship with their products. One interface to learn to manage multiple systems saves a great deal of time. Best of all, the interface is web-based. This allows administrators to log-in from any machine with a web-browser, freeing them to work from home or on the road.
Deployment Simplicity
One of the best features of Server Monitor Central is its speed of deployment, easy integration into the infrastructure, and ease of use once installed. This product can be made operational within minutes. Simply download the software, follow the simple installation instructions, and you're done. Best of all, with a simple to use and understand interface, there is virtually no additional training required for administrators.
Reduce TCO:
SyAM Software's products help reduce Total Cost of Ownership. SMBs are particularly sensitive to the cost of technology. Unlike enterprise organizations who can afford long development cycles, expensive machines, and experimental approaches, SMBs need affordable products that work right now. While initial systems prices have dropped over the last several years, this belies the true costs of those systems over their life-time.
The true cost of ownership is a function of the initial sale price, ongoing maintenance, power consumption, and the cost of IT staff to manage the systems. While SyAM Software cannot help bring down the initial cost of systems, there is a great deal we can do to addresses maintenance, power, and administrator productivity costs.
Maintenance costs are primarily a reflection of the price of replaceable components. SyAM Software's products help reduce maintenance costs with our proactive monitoring and alerting capabilities that go beyond red-light green-light status. Our software allows administrators to understand what is about to be a problem and fix it before it leads to multiple component failures, saving an organization money. For instance, if a fan is not cooling at appropriate levels, this can lead to burnout of multiple components. Our software alerts administrators to these "amber-state" issues so they can be addressed before failures occur. This can save hundreds or thousands of dollars per machine per year.
Power consumption is a major financial drain on many organizations. SyAM Software's products can save thousands of dollars annually on power costs. See Reduce Power Consumption below for details.
The productivity of administrators is a significant factor in the TCO picture. A machine that only cost $400 initially can suddenly cost $800 or more if an administrator has to spend several days working on it. SyAM Software helps administrators be much more productive in several key ways:
We empower their vision so they can drill down and identify root causes of issues quickly, shortening time to solution and decreasing costs.
We empower them to resolve many issues remotely, eliminating or reducing time-consuming desk-side visits.
We empower them to monitor and manage the entire IT infrastructure - servers, storage, desktops, and notebooks - all without leaving their desk.
We virtually eliminate expensive and time-consuming training by delivering a product that is intuitive and easy to use.
If an administrator who formerly used to manage only 50 systems can now manage 100 systems using our products, the cost burden associated with the administrator's salary can now be distributed across twice as many systems, making them half as expensive from a TCO perspective.
Reduce Complexity:
SyAM Software's products help reduce or eliminate expenses associated with technology complexity, the nemesis of every SMB. Complex IT systems require more expensive skill-sets to manage, require more ongoing training, and impact overall costs. SyAM Software helps reduce costs associated with complexity by delivering products that simplify systems management in several ways:
Junior level administrators can quickly ramp up on our product, freeing senior level people to focus on strategic initiatives that benefit the organization more than simple maintenance.
One intuitive interface reduces the complexity of multiple OEM interfaces that would otherwise need to be learned individually.
A simple and fast deployment process eliminates the complexity of long-term implementations.
Reduce Power Consumption:
SyAM Software's Power Management capabilities help a company realize dramatic energy savings. Systems left running 24x7x365 consume up to 50% or more power than systems that are shut down during non-working hours. An example illustrates this point. Two hundred PCs consuming on average about 200 Watts per hour and left running 24x7x365 consume 350,400 kWh in a year. At an average of $0.14 per kWh, power costs would be $49,056 annually. However, if those machines were shut down for 14 hours a day and on weekends, annual kWh consumption would drop to 146,160 or $20,594 annually - a savings of $28,594 or 58%.
Reduce Burden of Asset Management:
SyAM Software's products help reduce costs associated with manual asset tracking and associated activities. Our products dynamically discover the physical status of systems, their hardware configurations, and their software assets and report this data to the central console. This can save literally hundreds of hours of labor compared to gathering this information manually.
Reduce Downtime:
SyAM Software's products help reduce losses associated with computer systems downtime. When systems go down, employee morale sinks, productivity wanes, and customers potentially migrate to other providers. The costs associated with downtime are very significant even for employees working in non-mission-critical functions. Our products increase uptime by allowing administrators to deal with issues before they lead to catastrophic failures or to proactively replace systems in non-working hours.
Reduce Time to Solution:
SyAM Software's products help reduce time to solution. When problems arise with computer systems, users typically ask two questions: what's wrong with my computer and how long will it take to fix it? SyAM Software helps administrators deal with both issues in an elegant and efficient manner, getting users back online quickly. Our deep views into systems via our agent-based technology allow administrators to identify the cause of problems quickly. With remote resolution capabilities, users can sometimes be back online in just minutes.