Better integrated remote connectivity to machines

Irvine, CA – Provide secure, remote Internet access to virtually any piece of networked equipment behind firewalls, from a central location with ManageLinx from

. It hides network access beyond authorized equipment. Such technologies could provide widespread help and cost savings for machine builders, system integrators, and end users.

ManageLinx is said to provide secure, remote Internet access to virtually any piece of networked equipment behind firewalls, from a central location. It uses existing network infrastructures to create a “Virtual Device Network” (VDN) that allows access to only specific IP addresses of authorized equipment, without visibility to any other part of the network or compromising IT policies or firewall integrity.

Lantronix says ManageLinx is extremely easy-to-deploy and does not require any changes to the network hardware or configuration. Overall, ManageLinx provides service organization a secure and transparent remote access solution to help create, expand or improve remote product service or smart service business offerings.
Financial justification : or chief service officers and those responsible for product support programs, the ability to access installed equipment residing behind customer firewalls has been difficult, often an obstacle to realizing the benefits and additional revenue opportunities offered by remote product services. Lantronix cites

ally. RPS can also help increase equipment uptime by 13.5 %, decrease mean time to repair by 14.1% and boost service revenues and profitability by 17.6%.

“After listening to our customers , we realized they continue to face significant challenges when trying to remotely access equipment behind a firewall,” said Jerry D. Chase, president and CEO of Lantronix. “VIP Access addresses this challenge with a simple-to-deploy Virtual Device Network giving them seamless, reliable and highly-secure access to firewall-protected equipment. ManageLinx provides a highly reliable and scalable platform that will allow us to introduce additional applications in the future via software keys,” Chase continued.

The initial ManageLinx offering consists of the Device Services Manager (DSM) and the Device Services Controller (DSC). Acting as a publicly accessible VDN router, the DSM manages DSC units on the local area network (LAN) at each location. The DSM serves as a proxy connection point for participating DSCs and relays connections between user hosts and destination devices. It also offers a complete Web 2.0-based management system for all configuration and control. The DSM administrator can configure individual devices, set up automated device discovery on remote networks, perform automated monitoring and enable secure access to any device visible to a participating DSC. It requires zero-configuration: Simply plug in the power, plug in the Ethernet connection and insert the supplied USB flash drive. The Auto Discovery service finds networked equipment on the LAN and establishes an instant presence on the network. After setup, the service provider can access authorized equipment without changing hardware or network configuration, or interfering with existing customer IT policies, Lantronix noted.

More on the market: Micky Long, research director, Strategic Service Management Practice at AberdeenGroup, said, “The market potential for remote product services has been estimated to grow to more than $290 billion by 2011. While there is significant interest from companies, especially at the enterprise level, in launching an RPS model, or expanding their current service offering to increase efficiency and profitability, there are challenges that have hindered wide-spread adoption. These challenges include integration with existing systems, difficulty of deployment and security issues. Lantronix ManageLinx is designed to address each one of these issues and also provide service organizations with a comprehensive and easy-to-deploy solution. Overall, we believe that the approach Lantronix is taking with ManageLinx represents a giant step in the right direction. Solutions like ManageLinx have the potential to accelerate the remote product service market.”

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– Edited by Mark T. Hoske , editor in chief
Control Engineering News Desk
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