Allstream Saves Time and Money with Perle Console Server: Reliability and Efficiencies Cited

Allstream offers a comprehensive portfolio of E-Business solutions supported by industry leading expertise. Their services include access, hosting, security, E Business services and applications. The company prides itself on providing focused skills and resources to shape E-Business progression.

As a company’s infrastructure grows, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage. Allstream helps clients manage their Internet infrastructure according to the client’s strategies and requirements with managed software, managed hardware and Internet data center services.

Allstream’s state of the art data center provides direct access to its Tier One network. With guaranteed Internet access, monitoring, enhanced security and application flexibility, Allstream supports sophisticated Web sites to help companies expand their presence. The company provides a scalable solution, robust features and functionality and a national presence.

The company is also very concerned with security, protecting customers from viruses, bugs, hackers, disgruntled employees, and less than scrupulous competitors. “Our customers’ security is a top priority for us,” explained Fred Chagnon, Systems Administrator for Allstream Internet Services & Infrastructure.

Because Allstream actually guarantees its service and performance, as being the most robust and reliable Internet Service in Canada, the company counts on equipment to continuously get the job done with little or no downtime. Chagnon explained that to help provide reliable support, Allstream needs reliable equipment such as console servers with no serial breaks.

Before implementing Perle Systems, Chagnon’s department experienced periodic downtime problems. The installed console at the time kept sending serial breaks to the servers causing them to go through a complete reboot. During this process customers would not have access to the affected server. He decided to look for a vendor solution. The company needed equipment that would keep them ahead of the competition.

Chagnon looked at a couple of suppliers before deciding on the console server from Perle Systems Limited, a developer, manufacturer and vendor of award-winning networking products.

“We picked the Perle's unit because it has 24 ports in a 1u device instead of making us choose between eight or 32 like the competition,” said Chagnon. “It offered the port density we were looking for, and provided enhanced security features such as SSH with no expensive add-ons.”

Allstream offers a comprehensive portfolio of E-Business solutions supported by industry leading expertise. Their services include access, hosting, security, E-Business services and applications. The company prides itself on providing focused skills and resources to shape E-Business progression.

Chagnon looked at a couple of suppliers before deciding on the console server from Perle Systems Limited, a developer, manufacturer and vendor of award-winning networking products.

SSH is used to prevent ‘sniffing’ of passwords and other sensitive configuration details from the network. This is accomplished by encrypting all data traffic between an administrator’s PC and the console server. Administrators can now make secure encrypted connections to attached servers, routers, raid boxes, firewalls etc. with the Perle console server.

The Perle console server offers network managers a secure, reliable and costeffective solution to remotely maintain and monitor up to 24 servers and other network devices per unit, over a LAN/WAN network. The console ports can be accessed via the corporate LAN/WAN (or in the event of LAN failure via a dial up modem), allowing for permanent LAN access to server console ports, as well as simultaneous access to multiple systems in a server farm environment.

According to Chagnon, using the Perle console server saves Allstream time and money. Installation of the new equipment was as easy as plugging in the new server. There are less after-hours trips to the office to reboot, and there is less down time. Chagnon feels work gets done faster from a console server. “It saves the time of walking around a building or going from one site to another. Work can be done remotely where it could not be done that way before. When you get paged at 3 in the morning, that makes a big difference,” he said.

Chagnon also likes Perle’s responsiveness. “I’ve suggested features to Perle in the past, and sure enough, they were built into the next rev of the product,” he said, citing an example of adding security enhancements. “Perle had quick response time and listened – that’s good business.”