SOLUTIONS

Solutions

InterAct

Presentation

The Workstation is the largest, still untapped, source of IT optimization.

According to Gartner Group

"The average TCO of a work station ranges between 5.000$ and 10.000$ per annum. The IT departments could save up to 42% of this cost. The effort is completely reasonable."

InterAct is the leading software in technical, financial and environmental optimization of the workstation.

A simple and quickly operational solution

InterAct collects, aggregates and analyzes performance, inventory, consumption and usage data from all the networked workstations. Data is based on the actual business users activity. This passive agent patented technology offers a detailed and continuous vision of the quality of service actually delivered by IT to the business. A unique and immediate way to identify potential sources of technical, financial and environmental optimization (InterAct by Serden is a member of the global initiative Climate Savers Computing).

InterAct is implemented in a few days (parameter settings and deployment of a MSI package) and requires a light administration. The first improvements are visible in a few weeks and the return on investment is lower than 12 months. InterAct has a very low impact on the workstation (silent agent consuming less than 0.5% CPU) and on the network (around 40KB by workstation per day). The savings range from 80 to 500€ per workstation and per annum.

A modular architecture

InterAct is based on a modular architecture, offering the best solution for each customer based on its specific environment, constraints and objectives. Based on feature-rich foundation (IA-Foundation), the InterAct solution counts five complementary optional modules.

Modules

IA-Foundation :

Base module of the solution, it comprises the following components :
- IA-DB: The database and the algorithms at the heart of the solution
- IA-Portal: The Web access to the rich InterAct database
- IA-API: The API allowing the instrumentation of in-house applications
- IA-AM: The Dynamic Asset Management module (based on the real business users activity)

+ Key features and benefits

Key features :

- Workstation fleet Lifecycle Management based on the actual level of quality of service delivered to the end-user vs. asset depreciation schedule
- Software Licenses Management based on the actual usage

Key benefits :

- Reduced hardware replacement costs (only replace the workstations that are required to be)
- Reduced software costs (only pay for what is really used)
- Optimized workstation configurations and performances (only deploy what the user needs)
- Reduced the environmental impact (longer lifecycle = less waste)

IA-APM :

Application Performance Monitoring module. IA-APM gives IT the actual performance of critical applications delivered to the business users. This module applies to all types of applications (local, client/server, web).

+ Key features and benefits

Key features :

- Application performance and availability measured at the end-user level
- Application load monitoring
- Workstation resources consumption monitoring (CPU, memory…)

Key benefits :

- Objective measures of the application performance delivered to the business users
- Service Level management
- Business impact of poor application performance

IA-SN :

Servers and Network availability, performance and load monitoring , IA-SN complements IA-APm to deliver true end-to-end performance monitoring whether in a traditional PC (thick client) or in a thin client (Citrix type) environment.

+ Key features and benefits

Key features :

- Availability Monitoring (network and servers)
- Network performance monitoring (segment by segment)
- Server performance monitoring
- Server load monitoring (number of concurrent sessions…)
- Network traffic monitoring
- ICA sessions and latency monitoring (for Citrix)

Key benefits :

- Immediate identification of application performance issues and of their root causes
- Optimized use of the network
- Reduced application downtime
- Improved business users satisfaction

IA-Helpdesk :

Based on the aeronautical concept of “Flight data recorder”, IA-Helpdesk module makes it possible to the support teams to upload, in a click, all the contextual elements of a workstation (process, process in error, resources consumption) over a 15 minutes period preceding an incident. This feature greatly simplifies the helpdesk-user communication and significantly reduces the discovery time in the event of a workstation related incident.

IA-Green IT :

Green IT module of the solution, IA-GreenIT addresses the three key topics of the reduction of the IT environmental impact: Power consumption, printing, workstation lifecycle management.

+ Key features and benefits

Key features :

- Optimization of the power consumption profile based on the business user activity on its workstation and the time spent by the PC in each power mode (active, standby, hibernate, off)
- Collection of all the attributes of the print jobs initiated at the workstation level
- Identification of the workstations of which the lifecycle can be extended and the one that need an immediate replacement (with replacement suggestion)

Key benefits :

- Reduced power consumption (about 105K€ or 55 tons of CO2 per annum, for 1000 workstations)
- Reduced printing costs based on a clear knowledge of the printing activity (all the attributes of a given printing job, launched from the PCs, are collected) and the ability to set up the right targets and rules for a trully efficient print management policy (up to -15% or 1 million pages or 90K€ and 2.3 tons of CO2 or 300.000 liters of water or 85 trees saved per annum, for 1000 workststations)
- Reduced electronic wate generation thanks to an improved hardware lifecycle management (approximately 98 tons of CO2 or 320.000 liters of water saved per annum, for 1000 stations)

IA-Governance :

IA-Governance positions itself at the crossroads of compliance, security and risk management. It aims at offering to the IT management a vision of conformity between the configuration and usage of the workstations and the standards and rules of the company.

+ Key features and benefits

Key features :

- Beforehand migration risk assessment (OS, software)
- Service Level Management
- Application adoption rate monitoring (new application or updated version)
- USB devices usage monitoring
- Security-related software monitoring (firewalls, antivirus…)
- Software license compliance (version in use, number of licenses in use vs. bought)

Key benefits :

- Reduced operational risks
- Reduced exposure to security breaches
- Reduced legal exposure

Technology

Functional architecture

Integration with the global information system

InterAct is interfaced with the various components of the information system

- Active directories
- Infrastructure supervision tools
- Helpdesk software
- Active application performance monitoring (robots, probes)
- Reporting tools

InterAct complements the analysis of active application performance monitoring tools (such as the probes and robots) while bringing measurement of what is really delivered at the end of the chain, during the time of use of the user trade.