Reducing Downtime and IT Support Costs for Retail and Branch Offices

Challenge:

The customer – a Fortune 500 organization with hundreds of branch offices and retail locations required a secure, robust, yet easy-to-implement and use solution for managing IT equipment across all of its branch office locations.

Historically, for every IT issue (server maintenance, system crash, router troubleshooting, etc.) the customer deployed IT technicians from a central hub to each branch location – a solution that was not only inefficient in terms of response time, but expensive in hard and soft costs. Could Lantronix provide a more cost effective, centralized solution that was reliable and scalable?

Key Requirements:

	Solution must be scalable – capable of handling the existing hundreds of locations, and able to accommodate rapid expansion of additional locations
	Ease-of-implementation was critical
	Ease-of-integration with each brand office’s unique environment and variety of IT equipment
	Remote monitoring, device management and power management
	Highest levels of encryption and security to ensure data assets are protected

The Solution: Lantronix SLB – Secure Branch Office Manager

The Lantronix SLB – a consolidated hybrid management solution for distributed IT environments – was an ideal solution for the customer, whose business model requires the need to manage hundreds of branch offices with thousands of pieces of IT equipment, yet cannot support on-site IT staff.

Lantronix SLB – Application: Remote Monitoring and Management of Branch Offices

Results?

	Rapid deployment – the set-up and configuration of the SLB was done in a matter of minutes and the centralized management solution was up and running within days
	Customer can remotely manage all IT equipment – including ability to cycle power remotely (On/Off/Reboot), with no loss of power downstream during power switching
	Customer virtually eliminated “truck rolls” (IT technician deployment) to all branch locations for IT equipment management
	The SLB solution overall resulted in reduced operating costs, improved response time and service quality for all IT issues

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About the Lantronix SLB

Built specifically for the branch office – The Lantronix SLB is ideal for locations with a handful of servers and/or networked devices and where there is little or no on-site IT staff, such as branch offices or campus environments. The SLB supports a variety of industries including banking, finance, insurance, healthcare, retail sales, hospitality and education. It delivers secure remote console and power management (on/off/reboot) for up to eight devices. A total out-of-band solution, the SLB enables administrators to centrally monitor, manage and troubleshoot IT equipment even if the network or Internet is down.

SLB Key Benefits:

	Compact hybrid design to meet the unique needs of remote branch office environments
	Integrated secure console management (8 serial ports), remote power management (8 switching power outlets) and dual AC power inlets for redundancy and failover
	Automatic power source switchover
	Per outlet current measurement for energy monitoring
	Front LCD and keypad allows for quick network set-up and easy deployment
	Highest levels of encryption and security
	Centralized management integration with Lantronix vSLM and ConsoleFlow management software

Lantronix SLB secure branch office manager is now available through lantronix.com.