Opengear, a provider of secure remote management solutions for distributed networks, has secured a deal with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to deploy the company’s console servers.

The servers will be deployed to all DFAT posts, both in Australia and abroad. Over 200 Opengear Console Managers will be installed over the next three years. Currently 16 have been installed at eight overseas sites.

The department will now be able to monitor and control its remote sites centrally from Canberra over an IP network. In the event of a failure, remote alerts will notify system administrators and network managers, minimising the cost of downtime and improving disaster recovery, said Bob Waldie, the CEO of Opengear.

This is the first time the department will be managing its distributed infrastructure over an IP network. Most major corporations and service providers have been using private communications networks in the past. The use of an IP network brings about additional security requirements, which Opengear can meet confidently, Waldie said. “I think that we can allow people to move to using generic public IP networks for their critical management functions and do that with the same level of comfort they were doing before when they had expensive private networks”, he said.

DFAT chose Opengear’s product because it passed both the functional and security requirements, Waldie said.

“By providing a system where server, network and telecommunications issues can be dealt with remotely from one location’s systems, administrators can now avoid much of the cost associated with sending technicians to individual sites,” Waldie said.
“This can be of particular importance when you are dealing with a worldwide network like DFAT’s.”