Pay-as-you go control

THE DESIRE TO outsource basic IT support is always at its highest during uncertain economic times. One of the companies that is focused on answering that need is Everdream. In an interview with InfoWorld Editor in Chief Michael Vizard, Everdream CTO Russ Rive talks about how remote services via the Internet are changing the way people must think about systems management.

InfoWorld: What effect has the down economy had on outsourcing companies such as yours?

InfoWorld: What’s unique about the way Everdream approaches outsourcing IT support?

Rive: We have a product that allows us to install our support services and manage someone’s existing infrastructure. In the past, you would come to us, and we would have to replace your hardware and then manage it remotely — whereas now we just drop a little agent down in your existing infrastructure, and we can start taking over the desktop management function.

InfoWorld: What are customers looking for from a company such as Everdream?

Rive: Customers are coming to us with basically two criteria. They need to save money, and they need increased service for their end-users. Typically in a big distributed office environment, they come to us to gain control. For example, if all you need to do is get a handle on software licenses, we drop our engine into your system and activate the asset inventorying module. So for a couple of bucks a month, you’ve got the full interface to a Web portal where you can run all kinds of reports.

Or if you need virus protection, then we just activate those modules. It automatically downloads to the Web servers and installs it on the remote machines and it starts being managed remotely. The cool thing about this desktop management space is that finally you really can have a standardized offering for inventorying, virus protection, back-up, and so on. And you now have a single point of contact that’s available 24-by-7, staffed with our solution analysts.

InfoWorld: So the basic idea here is that by constantly monitoring systems, you can fix problems before they occur?

Rive: Our agent sits on the machine and it constantly monitors things [such as] hard-drive space. And when a customer does call in — because we’re constantly reporting back the status of the system — the status of the system just pops up in front of the person on the phone. We actually proactively call up customers because we set flags on certain values like hard-drive space and CPU utilization. And then when something does go wrong, we give the support team just unbelievable tools.

InfoWorld: If the savings are so big, why isn’t everybody using some type of remote management service?

Rive: Our biggest competitor is business as usual. Customers are not aware of how much supporting their distributed infrastructure is costing them. We need to get in at a level where someone will be open to the cost savings of having to replace people.

InfoWorld: What’s the next big technology coming up for Everdream?

Rive: Web services are great, and the value that we’re going to be able to add is that the integrated system [needed to manage] your desktop is already there. We’re actually building our platform with that in mind. Our IT management platform integrates with different systems like exit tracking, virus protection, and back-up. We have a solid XML interface, so as people start publishing Web services they might be offering, it would just interface right into our platform. With a flip of a switch, we would be able to offer that on someone’s existing infrastructure through our management console. The flexibility and the number of services we’re going to be able to offer down the road really becomes unlimited. It’s [a case of] whatever’s out there, we’ll be able to just plug it in and automatically manage on your system.