Peppercorn Brings Server Management To Board

Peppercon, a division of Raritan, Somerset, N.J., unveiled the single-chip Kira 100 last week. The chip will be used in Peppercon and Raritan products early next year.

In the United States, Raritan will ship external box and add-in card products while SuperMicro, San Jose, Calif., will be shipping an on-motherboard solution, according to Peppercon.

KVM-over-IP is a growing technology for helping solution providers and IT support people remotely manage the growing number of systems in a data center. Peppercon&'s products allow managers to remotely control PCs, servers and attached media, monitor system health and restart devices. Christian Paetz, founder and CEO of Peppercon, Zwickau, Germany, said the new single-chip device offers a number of important features. Because it is now small enough to be integrated directly on the motherboard, the Kira chip can pick up signals from discrete components. “An onboard chip has access to signals on the motherboard such as status of memory or CPU heat,” Paetz said.

In addition, he said, the chip has a dedicated video controller for faster and higher-quality video and support for virtually all the different management standards, including those from Intel and Microsoft.

Support for so many standards is important to Dave Driggers, CEO of Verari, a builder of blade systems in San Diego. Verari develops its own management interface on top of Peppercon products.

“All software and SDKs are compatible across all product lines,” Driggers said. “As new products come out, we don&'t have to go back and redevelop new software.”

Driggers said Verari offers Peppercon management products particularly to financial services and ISP/ASP customers that many have to control systems in data centers in location well beyond driving distance. For example, Driggers noted that a Seattle-based ISP customer keeps a data center in a different state where bandwidth is cheaper. With Peppercon&'s remote management products, IT staff are able to monitor system health, as well as troubleshoot system products without having to leave their offices.