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Network Integrator Uses Intel LANDesk®
Server Manager Pro to Maximize Server Uptime

LANMark Computer Concepts:
Customer Application Story

When your clients operate banks, hospitals and universities, their PC networks don't automatically screech to a halt at 5 p.m. every workday afternoon. LANMark Computer Concepts, Inc., a Florida-based network integrator that also provides network management services, recognizes that in today's business climate, computer networks have to be up and running virtually around the clock.

Ask Mark Evans, senior consultant at LANMark, what could be worse than a network failure that disrupts the business day? The answer, if you're an IT manager, is showing up for work at 8 a.m. and learning that a business-critical server has been dead half the night. That nightmare doesn't haunt LANMark clients who have taken the company's advice and installed Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro, a server management with remote and emergency management capabilities designed to maximize server uptime.

"All of our clients have experienced a network failure that has cost them money," says Evans. "With Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro, they now have an opportunity to deal with system failures and resolve issues quickly."

Server Management is Required Equipment for Demanding Clients

LANMark recommends Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro to clients in a variety of industries requiring stable, high-uptime networks, including financial services, healthcare, education, wholesale distribution and manufacturing. LANMark goes further to insist on the Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro solution when clients need more than 9-to-5 support.

"We build Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro right into our maintenance agreements," says Evans. "We use it to make sure our clients get the service they're expecting."

Whether a system failure occurs in the middle of the night or the middle of the afternoon, LANMark recognizes that few companies can afford downtime. With Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro installed in critical servers at client sites, LANMark technicians can be alerted via pager at the first sign of trouble. Using an asynchronous modem connection, they take remote control of the affected server and resolve most problems quickly-typically, in a fraction of the time it would take to get a qualified technician on site.

"If a client's server crashes, we can't just jump in a plane to get them, because they're all over the East and West coast," Evans explains. "But with Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro and a laptop or modem, we can get to them in a matter of minutes. And 90 percent of the time, we can get them functioning in 15 to 20 minutes."

Evans is highly impressed with Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro's performance. More than once, LANMark technicians have called a client to say they are dialed in and working on a downed server-before the client reported a problem.

"Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro has made us look very, very good," Evans says. "When we contact clients within five minutes of a problem and tell them we're already addressing it, it shows that we really care about them."

Besides enabling LANMark to provide its clients with faster response times, Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro often saves clients money, Evans adds. The ability to resolve issues quickly and remotely eliminates a lot of server management time, typically resulting in lower bills to clients. The same "time is money" advantage also applies from an integrator business perspective.

"Eliminating hours of travel time makes us more profitable and allows us to be more competitive and provide better service," Evans points out.

A Full-Featured, Proactive Server Management Solution

Detecting, correcting and managing critical server events is a vital service to companies that can't afford to incur downtime, but it's only half the equation. LANMark also takes advantage of Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro to monitor a variety of server and NOS parameters and to analyze server resources, gleaning information that's crucial to ongoing customer network reliability.

"Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro gives us the ability to be proactive," Evans says. "We can see a problem developing, rather than just reacting to a problem. And we can warn clients when they're running out of disk space or that it's time to add memory."

For example, the card helps enforce what LANMark sees as ideal server thresholds: no less than 20% available disk space, cache memory buffers at no less than 70%, and staying at least 10 percent under the software licensing limitations. LANMark also uses Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro to track trends in processor utilization and to monitor temperature and voltage, because a violation in safe ranges can portend serious problems.

"For example," Evans explains, "if Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro indicates fluctuating voltage in the server, it could be a sign that a UPS is starting to fail. In that event, network technicians can fix the problem before it corrupts a mission critical database or requires a restore from tape. If the card shows elevated temperatures in the server, it may mean that the room where the server's located is too hot. Technicians could then adjust the air conditioning to a cooler setting, averting and eventual server failure."

Maximizing uptime for a Web Server

During their first year in business, LANMark deployed Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro on a number of customers' networks with excellent results. That positive experience soon will expand to include an internal application as LANMark sets up a web site in house.

"You can be sure that there will be an Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro card on our web server," Evans promises. "We can't run the risk of being down because we will host clients' web pages on that server."

Flexibility and Resources Make Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro the Top Choice

Although LANMark could have chosen a software only server management solution, the company standardized on Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro because the hardware/software combination offered a more comprehensive solution.

"With Intel's LANDesk Server Manager Pro card, even if the server is totally locked up, you can still get in and remotely repair the disk," he says.

Evans has also tried another vendor's server management card, but he found its EISA-only support to be a significant limitation compared to the flexibility of ISA and EISA support with Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro. Plus he says, it was twice the cost of Intel's solution and proprietary. Intel's cost effective and vendor independent approach made Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro a viable solution for LANMark's broad customer base.

"Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro is just a very natural and clean fit in the server environment," Evans says. "We can provide our clients with all the flexibility and resources of Intel's product at a cost that's 20 to 30 percent below what they'd expect for a tier one product. Also, they have the comfort of knowing Intel will be there for support."

For additional information on Intel's LANDesk products, visit the Intel site on the World Wide Web at http://www.intel.com/network/
or call (800) 538-3373.