eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Verizon Communications launched a new IT infrastructure management service through which the firm is offering the ability to remotely direct customers server operating systems using IP technology.
Offered via the companys Verizon Business division and dubbed as its Remote Internet Protocol Application Management Service Basic, the package promises to remotely monitor and manage basic IT infrastructure and operating systems, including Microsofts Windows and Sun Microsystems Solaris platforms.
Using the service, Verizon said, will lower customers overhead related to server maintenance while reducing complexity of their IT management operations.
Verizon is offering to host the management service, which is being made available in the U.S. starting March 1, under a number of different models ranging from remotely accessing servers in customers facilities to hosting the operations in one of its data centers, or in a third-party location.
The company is promising customers 99.5 percent system availability and said that it should be able to remedy most serious server issues within two to four hours.
Pricing for the service will start at roughly $935 per server, per month, but will largely be dictated by on the size of specific implementations, said Rick Dyer, director of product management for IT solutions at Verizon Business.
“The key for us is that these are services that you often see delivered within a customers data center, where here we can offer the same management services across the globe,” said Dyer.
“Thats where our network is coming into play, to create a secure path from our operations center into customers operations.”
The new service will be made available via Verizon Business Remote IP Application Management Portal, also know as Total View, which promises a real-time window into infrastructure performance data and the ability for adjusting server processes on the fly.
The software also includes analytical tools for running queries across operations management data.
Verizon is betting that companies will continue to seek outsourcing alternatives for such common infrastructure management tasks, and claims that its service will actually improve server uptime and performance.
By tracking potential problems at the operating system level, the company said it can predict systems behavior and head off most potential issues before they occur.
“Patch management is pretty unsexy, but it needs to get done,” said Dyer. “Were expecting that customers might not immediately see cost benefits, but will see flexibility in how they manage their IT staff to get away from the daily work and focus on the big picture stuff.”
The company said that the Remote Internet Protocol Application Management Service also centralizes, standardizes and automates operating system patch management by analyzing customer systems and updating machines with the latest software fixes, specifically related to security.
Among the other infrastructure management offerings the company currently markets are data center co-location, data center outsourcing, remote backup and restoration, hosted messaging, IT service desk, IP application hosting and remote IP application management services.