Opengear - Experts & Thought Leaders

Opengear, a provider of solutions that deliver secure, resilient network access and automation to critical IT infrastructure, today announced CSC – IT Center for Science Ltd, a Finnish center of expertise in Information and Communications Technology, has deployed Opengear Smart out-of-band appliances to streamline a major upgrade project and improve day-to-day remote management. CSC, a non-profit organization with 70% ownership by the state of Finland and 30% controlled by Finnish higher education institutions provides services for research, education, culture, public administration and enterprises, to help them thrive and benefit society at large.  CSC's primary customers are the Ministry of Education and Culture and organizations within its field of operations, higher education and research institutes and public administration sector. Planned Network Upgrade As Antti Ristimaki, Senior Network Specialist for CSC explains, "Getting from our data centers to some of the sites we look after might take many hours and so having remote out-of-band access is vital for us." CSC has used a legacy out-of-band (OOB) console server solution for several years, but with a major network upgrade planned for 2018-2020 it was decided that more flexibility was needed to help the small networking team support clients at around 40 sites spread across the country. "What we liked most about Opengear was its small footprint and high-quality software along with the 4G mobile connectivity option which provides us with the option to deploy the OOB console server at site before we have any working in-band access," says Ristimaki. Setting up the devices took very little time and we are now remotely managing the process" Remotely Configure Networking Equipment CSC has already deployed Opengear ACM7004-5-LMR - Resilience Gateway appliances at around 10 locations across the country, which were initially used to help remotely configure networking equipment at sites connecting to its newly upgraded backbone network. Having a remote access server at distant locations makes it easier to reliably commission and configure new network equipment from its main offices at Espoo and Kajaani. At the final stage, there will be around 40 Opengear Resilience Gateway appliances across the country. "Setting up the devices took very little time and we are now remotely managing the process - which has proved surprisingly simple using 4G LTE and even 3G connections," Ristimaki adds.  Built-In CLI Tools The built-in CLI tools provided by the Opengear software have proven to be useful especially when commissioning the console server itself. Through this accessibility, CSC has integrated the management of its Opengear Smart OOB devices into its own internally developed network management and orchestration platform based on Ansible. CSC is also using Opengear to help record, and in the event of any problems, rollback critical firmware upgrades and configuration changes for core networking elements at remote sites.

New distribution agreement offers international channel partners better access to full portfolio of smart solutions Opengear, a provider of critical infrastructure management solutions through advanced console servers, remote management, monitoring, and cellular out-of-band products, announces a new distribution agreement with Hardware Group serving channel partners across Europe and Southern Africa. Hardware Group is an international provider of advanced IT solutions, services and support with accreditations across multiple vendors. With offices in the UK, USA, Nordics and South Africa, supported by a global logistics operation, Hardware Group can reach the needs of organizations worldwide. Expanding Distributions “Our relationship with Hardware Group spans six years and expanding our distribution deal to cover more of Europe and Southern Africa is recognition of the successful association that has helped our partners across the regions deliver high value solutions,” explains Derek Watkins, Vice President of Sales EMEA & India for Opengear, “Hardware Group has a highly complementary product portfolio which provides the key elements that help our channel partners deliver innovative out-of-band solutions that enhance network resilience and we look forward to growing together in these new market.” Opengear has enjoyed continuing double digit year-on-year growth based on engaging with partners and customers, continued innovation and teaming up with great distribution partners such as Hardware Group. The new agreement includes the full portfolio of Opengear products which are offered alongside a wider range of accessories and third party add-ons to provide partners with a simple and efficient product acquisition and delivery process. High Standards And Service Excellence Hardware Group is ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 27001:2013 certified by ISOQAR as part of a company ethos commitment to high standards, service excellence, continuous improvement, efficiency and legislative compliance. Hardware Group also offers a range of value added services including deal registration programs, product demonstrations, customization, integration, technical evaluation and extensive vendor support. Simon Fieldhouse, CEO for Hardware Group commented, “Opengear has been a great vendor partnership for us for many years and we are pleased to extend our distribution agreement to cover more countries and products. Our extensive networking portfolio offers a complementary fit for Opengear’s smart out-of-band connectivity appliances and we look forward to a beneficial relationship that will help channel partners deliver solutions that dramatically improve availability for mission critical systems.”

Opengear, a leading provider of critical infrastructure management solutions through advanced console servers, remote management, monitoring, and cellular out-of-band products, recently announced the development of Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP) capabilities across Opengear products. ZTP enables automated provisioning of configuration to newly deployed Opengear appliances over the network, without the need for manual user interaction. With the recently released firmware version 3.15.1, Opengear is the first in the industry to offer ZTP as part of out-of-band management solutions. ZTP is an automation solution that is designed to reduce errors and save time. The development of this capability was a direct response to customer requests. As large scale Opengear deployments have started to require faster and more flexible implementation options, Opengear reacted quickly with ZTP. The primary benefit of ZTP is not requiring any manual intervention other than connecting the appliance to the network and powering it on. This “rack and go” deployment process helps to standardize configuration and security policies, manage instances where large numbers of units are involved, and automate as much of the deployment work as possible. Leveraging DHCP, ZTP also supports bulk provisioning of OPG config templates, making it possible to provision complete appliance configs or site specific templates (NTP, SNMP, serial settings), provision Lighthouse (Opengear’s centralized management system) pre-authorization to automate enrollment for ongoing access, control and config management, and to provision custom boot scripts (/etc/config/rc.local) to support advanced deployment scenarios. Using XML config format (/etc/config/config.xml) allows for simpler deployments and config updates on the fly. “Automation and the ability to rack, stack, and provision network appliances in minutes make ZTP a capability we’re excited to add to the Opengear product suite,” said Gary Marks, President, Opengear. “By making deployment of equipment a much less manual process, network administrators are able to save time and reduce errors. Opengear is proud to be first in offering ZTP for implementing out-of-band management solutions.” Opengear solutions also offer a similar Low Touch Provisioning option wherein the OPG config file is loaded via a USB stick. Post-enroll scripts can be used as well to complement a paste of config commands where ZTP is not practical, limit the amount of settings in the OPG, and assure configuration and security compliance.