HP launches 'no phone calls' remote support software for SMBs

Known as HP Insight Remote Support, Hewlett-Packard's new software, announced this morning, connects small to medium-sized businesses directly to their HP solution providers for automated event monitoring and fault detection, also generating requests for support service dispatch.

The software is aimed at small information technology environments that do not require more advanced management systems, such as HP Systems Insight Manager (SIM) or HP Operations Manager.

The new software does not collect business information, according to an FAQ document on HP's Web site. It does gather configuration data on operating system, power management, server model, processor model and speed, storage capacity and speed, memory capacity and speed, firmware/BIOS, and the presence of HP Integrated Lights Out (iLO).

Use of the new software requires an HTTP/443 encrypted outbound initiated Internet connection. The customer hosts the software on a Windows-based HP ProLiant server with availability for application sharing.

Initially, HP Insight Remote Support will work with HP ProLiant, BladeSystem, Integrity and HP 9000 servers, in addition to HP EVA storage devices. However, HP plans to release a second version later this year which will add support for all HP server and storage devices geared to small IT environments.

HP Insight Remote Support is available free of charge to all customers with a warranty, HP Care Pack Service, and HP support contract. Customers can obtain the software as a download from the online HP Software Depot or as part of the Insight Control/Environment Management Suite.

Hewlett-Packard bundles a similar package called HP Remote Support Pack (RSP) with HP SIM. RSP, though, is optimized to support up to 1,400 monitored devices, whereas the new HP Insight Remote Support is optimized for one to 50 servers.

RSP also supports a wider range of devices, including some cooling products, disk arrays, and non-HP servers, for example. RSI works with HP SIM extensions for patch, provisioning, power, virtual machine administration, and performance management. A dedicated server is required to host both HP SIM and RSP.