linuxdlsazine’s Top 20 Companies to Watch in 2007

Datacenters are an integral part of nearly every company, and have quickly become the nerve center that provides networking, applications, and data storage to an entire enterprise. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t a pain to run. It doesn’t have to be that way, though, according to Avocent, which has made it a mission to simplify complex datacenters and tout the benefits of centralized management strategies.

With the cost of equipment going down, IT managers have been able to spend less and get more, but Avocent has been vocal about the difficulty in managing these robust environments. To tackle the problem, the company has created a unique integration of hardware, software, and embedded technologies that provide a single interface for managing a huge range of systems.

The company’s hallmark is centralized control, not only of servers, but also network devices in multiple locations. In the past, Avocent has been busy with innovations like wireless KVM, analog matrix switching, and PCI bus extension. Now, it’s bolstering its IP-based systems and loudly promoting the benefits of remote control, which can make tweaks to power management, as well as proxy appliances and server devices.

In 2006, Avocent acquired LANDesk to boost its centralized management offerings even more, by folding in additional desktop and server configuration, security management, and administration tools. The purchase should give Avocent more development opportunities in the near future as well, helping it to fine-tune and expand its product lines, particularly in mobile device management.