(thanks to by Brian Chee, Senior Contributing Editor, InfoWorld Test Center)

Imagine the world’s deepest observatory at 3 miles below the sea surface. Now think about what a challenge it would be to monitor equipment for such a remote location. This was the problem encountered by Aloha Cable Observatory (ACO), as they sought to replace an old power distribution unit (PDU) with a solution that would supply remote power management, control and configuration for critical seawater systems.

Enter SLB! The Secure Lantronix Branch (SLB) Office Manager from Lantronix was selected to securely manage remote servers and IT infrastructure equipment over the Internet and control devices that only had serial remote access. ACO technical staff deployed SLB to perform last-resort power reboots of various control computers in the power and control section of the dry land portion of ACO.

“We needed to replace a failing PDU that was too old to provide encrypted remote access – an issue that threatened to put us in violation of acceptable use policies,” said Brian Chee, IT specialist, University of Hawaii at Manoa. “The SLB solved that issue while supplying more control in less rack space since the SLB provides the functionality of three different devices in a single RU.”

SLB provided ACO with secure, remote out-of-band access while offering more flexibility and power control. If SLB can accomplish these feats 3 miles under the surface of the ocean, think about what it could do for your business!