NEC AccuSync LCD52V White Paper

NaViSet Administrator
TM
Introduction
Now more than ever IT departments are under increased pressure
to maximize the use of hardware resources and reduce support
costs. IT personnel must learn how to configure and support a
multitude of hardware devices and software packages throughout
the product lifecycle. Keeping track of these resources over the
product lifetime also plays a vital role in being able to maximize
their use and minimize their support costs.
Asset tracking has long been a vital part of this process. In recent
years, this tracking has become more sophisticated and has gone
beyond attaching a physical asset tag to each hardware device
and then keeping a log of when and where each device was in
service.
Today it is possible to keep track of hardware and software as-
sets electronically via remote asset management systems that
operate over a network. For example, PCs can be tracked and
software can be installed, configured and licensing managed – all
by remote from a centralized server.
As one of the most expensive and sophisticated PC peripherals,
display monitors form a significant portion of the Total Cost of
Ownership (TCO) of a modern computer installation. However,
the ability to accurately track this asset has been a significant
problem due to the lack of effective asset management and
monitoring tools. This has resulted in display monitors typically
having to be tracked manually throughout the product lifecycle,
increasing support costs and TCO.
Additionally, the configuration necessary to ensure that each dis-
play monitor is being utilized to its maximum potential has been
a burden on IT personnel. This is in part due to the wide variety
of controls, the varied control naming and the multitude of user
interfaces available on each device across different brands and
models. As display monitors have become more sophisticated,
in most cases their configuration has also become more complex
and time consuming. Incorrect configuration of a display monitor
can mean that the asset is underutilized in terms of its capabili-
ties. Incorrect configuration can even cause problems such as eye
fatigue and headaches for the user.
NEC's asset management solution
As a worldwide leader in display monitors, NEC has understood
these issues and has developed a set of software tools aimed at
What could you see with NEC?
bringing the display monitor peripheral into the process of asset
management. Better asset management will help reduce TCO by
maximizing the use of the display throughout its lifecycle and by
minimizing the associated support costs.
The aim of these tools is to make it easier to manage each stage
of the product lifecycle - from initial product acquisition through
installation and configuration, minimization of power consump-
tion, problem resolution, asset tracking and, finally, the eventual
decision for end-of-life disposal.
These tools were developed knowing that many customers have
existing asset management tools and procedures in place, and
that a proprietary solution is not in the best interests of NEC or
the customer. Any solution offered must be flexible enough to
complement any existing management tools, and be powerful
enough to work on its own in cases where there is no preexisting
infrastructure in place. NEC understands that customers may have
a variety of different display monitors in use, and that these man-
agement tools should not be limited to use with just NEC prod-
ucts, which would effectively limit the tools' overall usefulness.
Finally, these tools should be able to function with a minimum of
prerequisite support software requirements, thus keeping costs to
a minimum and simplifying usage and support.
It is with these philosophies and goals that NEC developed NaVi-
Set Administrator.
NaViSet Administrator is a Windows-based software tool for
remotely managing display monitor assets throughout an enter-
prise. NaViSet Administrator is based on Windows Management
Instrumentation (WMI), which is Microsoft's implementation of
the web-based Enter-
prise Management
(WBEM) Standard from
the Distributed Man-
agement Task Force
(DMTF).
WMI has been present in some form on all versions of Microsoft
Windows since Windows 95. The sophistication and power of
WMI has grown with each release of Windows. However, effec-
tive management of display monitors has long been severely
lacking when using the standard Windows WMI implementation.
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