Arula launches serial remote control

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/0212/web-arula-02-12-01.asp

BY Dan Caterinicchia
02/12/2001

Any device with a serial port, from routers to light fixtures, can be
remotely managed via the World Wide Web, according to Arula Systems
Inc., a company announcing its formal launch today.

Arula Systems, a spin-off of Hewlett-Packard Co., also is officially
launching its product suite, which is based on the Arula Universal
Agent Platform. The platform enables a user to manage via a Web
interface any device with a serial port.

The company already has signed up the Air Force as a customer, said
Dickson Chu, vice president of business development at Arula.

"We have cleared a deal with the Air Force and are getting on the GSA
schedule," Chu said. "Any device with a serial port, we can give it IP
connectivity and a browser-based way of remotely controlling those
devices."

Arulas product suite has four components:

* SecureConsole, which enables an IT manager to plug any single device
  into it via the serial port and manage it remotely.

* SecureConsole SSL, which adds Secure Socket Layer encryption to the
  appliance with up to 128-bit encryption.

* Cerebus x8, which offers the same SSL security but can manage up to
  eight devices in a rack-mountable chassis.

* ConsoleManager, which will monitor a large number of Arula devices
  (up to 250 ports) in a single graphical user interface.

The ConsoleManager will be available by the second quarter of this
year, and the other devices are available immediately, said Juggy
Krishnamurthy, vice president of engineering and operations at the
Cupertino, Calif.-based company.

"[The suite] can be custom-tailored for any device [the customer
wants] to manage, and not just IT devices, but anything with a serial
port that the customer wants to run through the Internet,"
Krishnamurthy said.

An aircraft manufacturer is using Arula products to reduce its energy
bill by remotely managing the lights in its hangars, Chu said. "That
whole implementation only took about a week and a half, and they can
individually shut off each bulb through their IP addresses."

General Services Administration pricing for a single appliance with
the added SSL will be $480, and Arula hopes to announce more
government customers within the next few months, Chu said.

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