NetBotz Version 5 Offers Partner-Friendly Enhancements

One of our product managers recently told me a story that illustrates the power of the NetBotz family of environmental monitoring systems. He was visiting with an IT manager for a large customer in the southeastern U.S. that has facilities all over the region, including many in remote areas, when the manager got an email about a high-temperature alert at a remote facility.

It was 100°F at the remote location and a cooler had failed, prompting the NetBotz system on site to send an email to the IT manager, an SNMP alert to the company’s central Network Operations Center (NOC), and an alarm to StruxureWare Data Center Expert, the company’s vendor-neutral intelligent monitoring platform. The IT manager hopped on a 2-way radio to talk with a technician at the remote location and relayed information about how to fix the problem. By the time the NOC called in response to the alarm, the resolution was well underway.

In short, a problem that could have easily caused the overheating of IT equipment was addressed within minutes, all thanks to NetBotz. While I’m not at liberty to name this particular company, it could be any one of a number of firms in vertical industries that have lots of distributed locations, including retail, utilities, financial services and more. These firms can’t afford to have IT personnel at all of these sites, but with NetBotz they can still monitor them effectively – even if there’s nobody at all on site. (Or, if you’re a managed service provider, you can do it for them.)

NetBotz V5: Web-based UI, low-light camera and more

Now NetBotz is getting a refresh that will make it even more effective, with features some partners have been clamoring for.

NetBotz Version 5, which begins launching in December, will include three new products:

• NetBotz Rack Monitor 750, for data centers and edge deployments where IT rack space is available
• NetBotz Wall Monitor 755, providing monitoring with an integrated camera, for locations where IT rack space is unavailable
• NetBotz Camera Pod 165, a 4MP Power over Ethernet (PoE) high-definition camera with low-light capability, which is natively managed by NetBotz 750 or 755 devices.

Version 5 also features a new web-based management interface, meaning dedicated desktop software is no longer required – you can monitor NetBotz from any web browser. And with its on-board PoE switch the new camera is plug and play; just plug it in and it’ll immediately appear on the NetBotz dashboard. I expect both of these enhancements will make life easier for partners.

Also new with Version 5 is support for the REST API. This likewise makes it easier for partners to integrate NetBotz with third party systems, including IT-focused tools such as Kaseya. This should be of particular interest to our MSP partners, who can now pull environmental monitoring into the same tool they use to monitor and manage IT equipment. For some MSPs, NetBotz integration may mean an additional revenue stream, giving them the ability to offer environmental monitoring on top of the IT management services they already provide.

We’ve also streamlined the alarm configuration and management process, making it easier for partners to set up NetBotz systems for clients. And we’re simplifying the portfolio by reducing the number of appliances in the family from five to three – but without taking away any capabilities.

NetBotz monitoring is a must for edge deployments

With the new models and features, I expect partners will find NetBotz Version 5 to be even more attractive to customers. And there’s no better time to make the case for environmental and physical monitoring at remote locations given the rise of edge computing.

With NetBotz, customers can protect their edge locations – and other data centers – from physical threats including unauthorized intrusions that can result in cyber-crime. It can also help protect against downtime caused by environmental factors, as in the story my product manager told me.

That’s significant when you consider the cost of a data center outage rose to $740,357 in 2016—an increase of 38 percent since 2010. Organizations lose as much as $100 million per year as the result of IT-related downtime. Environmental problems including overheating, leaking fluids, high humidity and fire or smoke accounted for 11% of all data center outages in 2016.

NetBotz can help your customers escape such a fate. Even better, any NetBotz sales partners make are eligible for the Edge IT Discount. Check out the Edge IT Discount page to learn more and be ready when NetBotz Version 5 starts shipping in December.