Raritan introduces Dominion KX II

• Email
• Print
• ( 0 )
• 

Raritan unveiled its next-generation KVM-over-IP switch, the Dominion KX II that delivers – on a new, easy-to-deploy and scalable appliance platform.

Raritan unveiled its next-generation KVM-over-IP switch, the Dominion KX II, that delivers – on a new, easy-to-deploy and scalable appliance platform – more powerful productivity features to help IT organizations access and manage servers at the rack and over the Internet in order to improve data center efficiency.

Designed to deliver a better user experience to administrators who spend hours at a time in front of a screen managing servers, the Dominion KX II provides the industry's highest remote video resolution (1600x1200), tight mouse synchronization performance and a new, intuitive browser-based user interface.

It also provides Universal Virtual Media to conveniently access storage media on remote servers. For high availability, Dominion KX II comes with dual power supplies and dual gigabit Ethernet ports – both with automatic failover protection.

"The new Dominion KX II is a our second generation digital access solution. It provides next-gen

eration technologies and new features – such as Universal Virtual Media, dual power and Absolute Mouse Synchronization –" said Country Manager, Raritan India, Sanjay Motwani. "These new features – along with integrated remote power control and other popular features found in our original Dominion KX I switches – are standard on all Dominion KX II models. Added Richard Dominach, Sr. Product Manager, Raritan, "Our new Dominion KX II builds on the success of our original Dominion KVM-over-IP switch, which is used by thousands of data centers around the world, including facilities at Bloomberg, BP, CIHI (Canadian Institute for Health Information), Ernst & Young, KPMG , Microsoft, Petco and Suncor."

The Dominion KX II provides the following new features to deliver a remote user experience that is almost indistinguishable from a direct at-the-rack connection:

· A new easy-to-use, browser-based user interface that provides a consistent user experience whether working remot

ely, at the rack, or performing administration tasks on the KX II. It is the first browser-based user interface for at-the-rack KVM access and management.

· Universal Virtual Media, which lets administrators mount drives and media from their desktop to remote servers in the data center during a KVM connection. This is useful to install software, transfer files, back up data or run diagnostics. KX II supports internal and USB-connected CD/DVD drives, USB mass storage devices, ISO images and PC hard drives.

· Absolute Mouse Synchronization, which eliminates the time-consuming task of manually adjusting mouse parameters on each target server in order to synchronize the remote and target server mouse cursors. With Absolute Mouse Synchronization, mouse cursors stay in synch and keep annoying mouse delays to a minimum.

· Virtual KVM Desktop, which lets users scale a target server's display to any size, from thumbnail to full-screen video. It also provides trans

parent keyboard handling by sending securely every keystroke combination straight to the server.

As a plug-and-play KVM appliance that installs in minutes, Dominion KX II is completely self-contained with all key features preloaded – including authentication and Web access. Since KX II provides BIOS-level access, servers are accessible even if a server's operating system is not working or the network interface card has failed. If an Internet connection is unavailable, the KX II provides an integrated dedicated modem port for emergency dial-up access.

To protect servers from unauthorized access, KX II provides new features for added security – including strong password support and 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES ) encryption of keyboard, video and mouse data. AES , which is is a U.S. government approved cryptographic algorithm, is recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the FIPS Standard 197. KX II also provides built

-in authentication, compatibility with third-party AAA servers, and SNMP and Syslog event management. The KX II's remote power control enables users to power up, power down or power cycle servers connected to optional Raritan remote power control units.

Dominion KX II consists of two components: the KVM-over-IP switch and Computer Interface Modules (CIMs). A CIM, which connects to a server's KVM ports, converts the video signals for transmission, as well as delivers keep-alive keyboard/mouse emulation. To protect investments and ease migration to KX II, CIMs from KX I and CIMs from selected Paragon I and Paragon II KVM switches are supported.

All KX II models are CommandCenter Secure Gateway (CC-SG 3.1.1) certified, so that multiple Dominion switches – and connected servers – can be managed from one IP address. CC-SG offers a significant set of convenient tools – such as consolidated enterprise-wide views, remote configuration and firmware updates – as well as

a single authentication and authorization access point to all targets connected to Raritan Dominion switches. In addition, CC-SG enables advanced server search, access and remote power control, as well as setup of Virtual Media permissions.