Arlington, Virginia, 11 Aug 2011
Kaseya, the leading global provider of automated IT systems management software, today announced that the University of Kentucky Office of Research Information Services (RIS) has deployed the Kaseya IT Automation Framework to remotely manage 350 systems dispersed over campus in 45 separate locations.
The automated and integrated solution streamlines IT operations and enables RIS to align IT services to the organisation's business procedures through ITIL best practices.
“Instead of running around putting out fires in hopes that systems stay online long enough until they are replaced, RIS now has a proactive framework in place that accurately aligns its services to the needs of users,” said Greg Franseth, director of RIS, University of Kentucky.
As RIS builds automated processes throughout its IT systems management framework and creates efficiencies throughout the department, ITIL ensures it is meeting the needs of users from help desk remediation to regular systems maintenance. Procedures - such as hiring and setting up a new employee - are now routed through Kaseya, ensuring that the process continues to move forward, changes are recorded and stakeholders are held accountable.
It wasn't always so. As a large state-run university with a nationally-renowned research arm, the University of Kentucky was having trouble keeping up with regular maintenance of its distributed systems. Without a reliable remote management tool, the department's technicians were forced to manually update machines and remediate help desk issues, dragging out the time and effort required to update its computers.
Kaseya solves this by consolidating disparate management functions from monitoring and patch to help desk and backup, on a single Web-based dashboard; by giving RIS technicians fingertip access into and control over all their distributed systems without having to leave their desk. The Kaseya platform replaces five separate management tools, eliminating the need to toggle between multiple dashboards when conducting maintenance. Kaseya even enables monitoring and regular maintenance of RIS systems that sit behind various firewalls set up by other departments such as the medical centre that may have enhanced security policies for compliance reasons. Kaseya's agent-based architecture enables this visibility and control, ensuring that every system under RIS management is always accessible to systems administrators and technicians.
According to Franseth, remote maintenance and remediation eliminates the need to walk 45 minutes across campus to fix a simple password or configuration issue. Instead, more than 80% of help desk calls are now remediated remotely through Kaseya and within a few minutes. Now, basic tasks such as issuing a patch, updating software or on-boarding a new employee's laptop take a few minutes. Likewise, a complete audit of all RIS systems across campus takes just days to complete when it used to take months. This continually updated auditing information can then be used for infrastructure planning and procurement, eliminating costly over-procurement policies and helping departments avoid fines for using unlicensed software.
“Managing IT systems for a public university is akin to walking a tightrope. On one side you have the need to provide students, faculty and researchers the intellectual freedom to explore their academic interests in an open and independent learning environment. On the other side, you have the responsibility to protect the school's networks from internal and external threats and to keep thousands of systems up and running optimally in the face of heavy, eclectic use,” said Gerald Beaulieu, director of product marketing, Kaseya. “Kaseya gives education IT professionals a single tool in which to deliver high-quality IT services and support in a challenging environment.”
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