Avocent Debuts IT Management Tools That Reside Inside Cisco Routers
Key to the announcement is Cisco's new Application eXtension Platform (AXP), a Linux-based hardware module that's built into Cisco's Integrated Services Router (ISR) for application development and hosting. Cisco unveiled the AXP Thursday at its Cisco Partner Summit 2008 in Honolulu.
Branch offices tend to have older IT equipment than central offices and fewer IT staffers, said Rich Williams, director of alliances for the LANDesk product. That can make managing servers and PCs in remote offices a challenge. Putting MergePoint and LANDesk Patch Manager on routers located in such offices will make it easier for IT management to administer remote equipment.
Avocent said it plans to offer MergePoint and LANDesk Patch Manager for AXP modules inside the Cisco 1841, 2800 Series and 3800 Series routers. MergePoint helps IT administrators to work through service processors embedded in servers to access power control, sensor readings and other functions. LANDesk Patch Manager lets managers inventory servers, desktop systems (including PCs and Macintosh computers) and laptops attached to a wide-area network, scan them for security threats and deploy security patches if needed.
AXP versions of the products will be available for pilot testing in 30 to 60 days, Williams said. Pilot testing is expected to last one or two quarters before the products are made generally available.
Williams envisions solution providers that work with Cisco systems offering the Avocent software to their customers and developing implementation, training and support services around the products.