ASUS Business Hub

Measuring the true cost of business IT hardware involves taking account of a wide range of factors, beyond the up-front cost of the hardware itself. This includes the cost of power, maintenance costs and even the final trade-in or resell value of the hardware, for example.

 

However, one aspect of the total cost of ownership that isn’t always considered is the cost of staff hours and the loss of revenue that results from unscheduled IT downtime. This can be due to system errors, hardware failures, or simply the need to perform software or BIOS updates during business hours. The ability to more efficiently manage such issues can not only result in a boost to productivity, but revenues too. Thankfully, there are tools available to SMBs and corporates alike that offer features designed to do precisely this; providing IT managers with the flexibility they need to keep the business running smoothly.

• How to take the headache out of business IT provision
• How remote monitoring and control can boost your business

Introducing ASUS Control Center ASUS Control Centre (ACC) is an IT management tool for ASUS servers, workstations and commercial products, including notebooks, desktops, All-in-One (AiO) PCs, thin clients, and even digital signage, depending on the license level. It’s a powerful value-add that is included for free with products that are part of the ASUS Corporate Stable Model (CSM) program. This guarantees stable roadmaps and product lifecycles so that IT managers can easily plan upgrade cycles. The CSM Edition of ASUS Control Center is designed for ASUS mini-PCs and desktops that use compatible ASUS business motherboards. It provides powerful features to monitor and control these devices in order to simplify management and reduce operational expenditure. Remote monitoring and management Remote hardware monitoring allows IT managers to detect failing hardware and repair or swap-out the defective assets to avoid downtime due to critical failures. Through the ASUS Control Center dashboard, it’s possible to view fan speeds, working voltages, motherboard and CPU temperatures and storage drive health through S.M.A.R.T. disk monitoring. This provides a snapshot of system health and makes it easy to spot endpoints that require extra attention. Furthermore, by monitoring system utilization and setting alerts when exceptional circumstances are detected, IT managers can head off potential problems before they become critical. This includes failing hard disk drives, or CPU/motherboard failures due to sustained high temperatures that could potentially indicate a cooling problem.

 

However, not all issues are due to hardware failures, which is why the ability to remotely manage IT hardware is also a crucial feature of ASUS Control Center. For example, high CPU or network utilization could be due to malware, or an older version of some installed software that is causing memory leaks, or that is simply poorly optimized and needs updating. ASUS Control Center allows for both remote management and scheduling of software updates in addition to lower-level access, for example, to change BIOS settings or to update the BIOS to fix underlying performance issues. It also allows for remote desktop control, meaning that fixes can be applied to endpoints without needing to travel on-site or have the employee alter their plans to visit the office. The changes could even be applied outside of business hours, ensuring there is no knock-on effect to productivity. Asset management and security Remote management tools such as ASUS Control Center also make it easier to manage IT assets by automating the dispatch of core software packages to new endpoints. Keeping track of company assets is also made easier by the ability to add detailed metadata, such as setting deployment dates and the locations where the asset is held (if the business has more than one office). To ensure these assets are properly secured, ASUS Control Center allows IT managers to disable access to the Windows Registry to prevent unauthorized changes to software or permissions. It can even disable USB ports so that sensitive data can’t be copied from the endpoint, or malicious software accidentally added from an infected external storage device. USB boot devices are also a way for users to potentially circumvent the operating system to steal data, so by disabling USB ports this risk is eliminated. ASUS Control Center for enterprises Moving beyond client devices, the Enterprise version of ASUS Control Center also has unique features designed specifically for servers and data centers. One of the most valuable features of ASUS Control Center for enterprises is the ability to monitor and manage power consumption, thanks to ASUS Power Master and support for Intel Data Center Manager (DCM). Energy costs are one of the largest operating expenses for any organization that runs a data center or large number of servers. By carefully tracking server load and power usage over time, power usage profiles can be applied to ensure the most efficient use of assets, slashing OpEx through reduced power and cooling costs. The Enterprise version of ASUS Control Center also supports agentless VMware devices and signage display devices, as well as all of the features discussed previously, such as remote monitoring, task scheduling, asset management and more. With the ability to monitor and maintain up to 1,000 systems, ASUS Control Center is a powerful tool for IT managers. It not only makes their lives easier, but it can help to maximize efficiency on capital expenditure of server and endpoint assets and reduce operating expenditure through reduced downtime and lower power and cooling costs. Find out more about ASUS CSM products and how ASUS Control Center can benefit your business