Australian export success story Opengear this week launches its latest breakthrough, a family of devices that make it easy to monitor and manage remote IT network infrastructure and other critical equipment.

Opengear (www.opengear.com) is a leading provider of secure enterprise-grade console servers and remote management solutions. The Brisbane-based company earns more than 80 per cent of its revenue from US sales. It has also expanded to Europe through a newly established UK office.

Opengear will unveil its new ACM5500 product family at Cisco Live! in Melbourne this week.

Developed using feedback from Australian customers, the Opengear ACM5500 is a next-generation Remote Infrastructure Management (RIM) product family. ACM5500 RIM gateways provide a cost-effective, drop-in solution for monitoring and managing remotely located critical infrastructure such as networking equipment, servers, power distribution equipment, security cameras and even environmental inputs such as door monitors or smoke detectors.  Customised alert thresholds proactively track connected device status and can automatically remediate issues before they become critical.

Opengear CEO Rick Stevenson said the ACM5500 design was based on listening to customers’ needs. “As a result, we have a number of customers waiting for first delivery of this new range,” he said.

“The Opengear ACM5500 family provides companies with a total remote infrastructure management solution. The ACM5500 lets customers connect and manage multiple Ethernet devices, provides serial console access, manage the configuration of connected devices and even monitor the environment with the built-in temperature sensors and external sensor support.”

Australian communications specialist OverTheWire (www.overthewire.com.au), which operates points of presence in major cities and a number of regional centres across Australia, has welcomed the availability of the ACM5500. “Opengear's products allow us to manage and configure our devices securely and remotely even without reliance on the rest of the network,” said Technical Manager Jay Binks.

“They’ve helped us minimise our response times and the need for on-site callouts, and have allowed us to expand our business into more locations at lower cost. The new ACM5500 range will allow us to manage even more. The built-in Ethernet switch will enable us to manage infrastructure and server hardware, all through the same gateway.  It’s an all-in-one solution that doesn't require us build dedicated out-of-band networks in smaller locations.”

The new ACM5500 product family builds on Opengear’s popular range of console servers and cellular routers, which are widely used by service providers for out-of-band management of network infrastructure at regional Points of Presence. Enhancements in the Opengear ACM5500 range include:

• Extra Ethernet connectivity, making the ACM5500 a total remote management gateway device
• 4GB of local storage for storage of device configuration files. Enables bare-metal provisioning of sites or rollbacks of connected equipment if configuration problems occur.
• Choice of V.92 or cellular out-of-band connectivity with dual SIM support for network failover in mission critical networks.
• Power-over-Ethernet option.

Opengear’s National Sales Manager in Australia, Brendan Baker, said the Opengear ACM5500 had attracted interest from utility companies as well as telecom businesses operating remote infrastructure.

“Utilities are looking for a robust and reliable out-of-band management solution to gain access to critical equipment at hundreds of remote sites,” he said.  “Opengear’s solutions provide access during outages or, better yet, can proactively monitor and automatically restore services when these disruptions occur.

Opengear has released three ACM5500 models with other models due later in 2012. More details on the ACM5500 are available at http://www.opengear.com/product-acm5500.html.

Opengear will display its entire Opengear product line, including the new ACM5500, at booth WE24 of Cisco Live in the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre 20 from March 20-23, 2012

For media assistance, contact Impress Media Australia www.impress.com.au/opengear

Call John Harris on (08) 8431 4000 or email jharris@impress.com.au.

About Opengear http://www.opengear.com

Opengear (http://www.opengear.com) develops smart solutions for critical infrastructure management. Opengear’s Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM) and Remote Infrastructure Management (RIM) appliances secure and simplify remote monitoring, access and control of critical IT & network, and Operations Technology (OT) & industrial control systems. These smart appliances integrate next-generation automation and true out-of-band management technologies, ensuring Opengear’s customers maintain complete control over critical infrastructure – wherever, whenever.