Pure-play MSP Uses Intel® vPro™ Technology-Based Pcs to Hone Processes, Increase Margins, and Strengthen Customer Service. Advanced PC management capabilities help Arterian cut labor costs 8-10% while reducing PC downtime by 50%.

1. Case Study
Intel® vPro™ Technology
Pure-play MSP Uses Intel® vPro™ Technology-
Arterian Based PCs to Hone Processes, Increase
Margins, and Strengthen Customer Service
Advanced PC management capabilities help Arterian cut labor
costs 8-10% while reducing PC downtime by 50%
“ With a vPro-based When asked to describe his business model, Jamison West puts it simply: “You run your business, we’ll run your IT.”
As an encapsulation of the managed services model, it doesn’t get much simpler—or more complete—than that.
PC, we can reduce
As CEO of Arterian, the leading managed services provider in Seattle, West has built upon that model since
the average user’s the company’s transition to being a “pure-play” MSP in 2007. Now delivered by 30 employees, that model—and
downtime by 50%. Arterian’s execution of it—are proven. “The real power of managed services—where we take full responsibility for
Anytime we tell the client’s servers, PCs, and network—is the goal alignment between the managed service provider and the client,”
explains West. “The client needs reliable IT to pursue their business objectives. We need to minimize the IT problems
that to a customer,
they experience in order to support our margins. We and the client succeed or fail together. We only make money
they can do the when they don’t have problems.” Succeeding within that business model depends on having the right processes and
math and see the tools to minimize problems and the costs associated with both maintenance and remediation activities. And indeed,
West credits Arterian’s success to a continual focus on building highly efficient processes and practices. “We focus
positive impact on
heavily on the best practices, tools, and services that allow us to both control cost and elevate the quality of our
their employees’ managed services,” says West. “We use powerful tools such as LabTech* and ConnectWise, and play an active role
*
productivity.” in how those tools develop over time.” (West sits on ConnectWise’s Advisory Council). “We’re proactive when it
comes to driving improvements to our processes and our vendors’ tools.”
– Jamison West, CEO,
Arterian

2. Advanced Tools Save $100 per Trouble Ticket
and Accelerate Repairs HP desktops and laptops support Arterian’s mission
This approach recently led Arterian to adopt Intel® vPro™ Arterian relies on HP desktop and laptop PCs with Intel vPro
technology-based HP desktop and laptop PCs as a standard
1 technology as a key part of their managed services solution.
part of their solution. The advanced manageability and security “Like any other part of our client solution, we were looking
for a strong partner that can help us deliver reliable IT
features of Intel vPro technology allow Arterian to significantly
services,” says Jamison West, CEO of Arterian. “HP has a clear
streamline a number of key PC management tasks within their
strategy for business-class products. HP PCs are reliable
existing LabTech management console software. This both
and well designed. And their warranty support is fast, which
reduces their cost and helps eliminate downtime and interrup-
helps support our service level agreements with our clients.”
tions for PC users. The power of this solution has three elements:
• ncreased abilities to monitor, manage, and repair PCs remotely2—
I
regardless of power state or operating system health—that
greatly reduce maintenance and management costs and maintenance activities and problem resolutions. For example,
increase the utilization of Arterian’s personnel. for a typical hardware problem, Arterian can power up the PC, run
diagnostics remotely, and see what’s on the user’s screen using
• Increased security capabilities that better protect the customer’s
hardware-based KVM Remote Control.3 This allows Arterian’s tech-
critical data while reducing downtime.
nicians to determine the problem quickly without relying on the end
• A standardized, energy-efficient platform that can meet
user’s ability to type in commands or report what’s on the screen.
the developing demands of the customer’s business while
“The ability to remotely diagnose hardware problems saves a lot
significantly reducing total cost of ownership (TCO).
of time,” says West. ”You can quickly determine the part needed,
These capabilities give Arterian considerable advantages. get it ordered, and then get it fixed in one visit rather than two.”
”Fewer truck rolls—at a minimum cost of $80-100 each—keeps Overall, this ability reduces Arterian’s average time to resolve a
labor costs down,” explains West. “At the same time, keeping hardware problem from 10 hour to 4 hours.
the technician in our office lets them multitask on problems,
Remote repair of OS problems reduces repair times 75%.
further reducing our costs. And the customer’s problems can
The impact of Intel vPro technology on the repair of OS prob-
be addressed more quickly, getting them back to work faster.”
lems is even larger than its impact on hardware problems. With
Intel vPro technology’s exclusive hardware-based KVM Remote
“Fewer truck rolls—at a minimum cost of Control, Arterian can repair a PC that has a disabled operating
$80-100 each—keeps labor costs down.” system. Like software-based KVM tools, it allows technicians to
– Jamison West, CEO, Arterian remotely control the keyboard, video and mouse on a customer’s
PC. But unlike software-based KVM tools, KVM Remote Control
Advanced remote capabilities that significantly increase connects easily, maintains the connection through reboot cycles,
efficiency and reduce costs. The advanced remote capabili- and gives the technician a “full GUI” view of the PC they are work-
ties of Intel vPro technology allow Arterian to maintain and repair ing on. ”KVM Remote Control is great when you have a hung OS,”
PCs more quickly and at lower cost. This is true for both normal says West. “It eliminates a truck roll. The client doesn’t have to
Table 1. Delivering More to Customers Through Intel® vPro™ Technology
Arterian’s deployment of PCs based on Intel vPro technology yields better IT functionality and lower service delivery cost4
Without With
Activity Intel vPro Technology Intel vPro Technology Improvement
Average time to resolve a hardware problem 10 hours 4 hours Reduced 60%
Average time to resolve an OS problem 2 hours 30 minutes Reduced 75%
Average amount of downtime per PC per month 4 hours 2 hours Reduced 50%
Number of PCs that can be managed per technician 100 150 50% Increase
Time to achieve 95% patch saturation 6 hours 1 hour Reduced 67%
Power cost savings per PC over 3-year life span $0 $451 TCO lowered by $451
2

3. have a Windows* disk on hand. We can mount an ISO over the
Internet and recover the OS. We can watch the reboots as they LabTech Remote Monitoring and
happen. And on top of all this, our technician can multitask while Management (RMM) Solution
he’s doing the repair.” West estimates that for a typical OS repair, LabTech is the only RMM solution developed from the
a PC with Intel vPro technology reduces the repair time from ground up by managed services providers for managed
2 hours to 30 minutes. “Customers don’t expect OS problems to services providers. If you can think of a task or process,
be solved that quickly, so this really boosts client satisfaction,” he LabTech can automate it. LabTech’s robust functionality can
notes. “And as more and more of our client base are converted to increase technicians’ efficiency through the automation of
vPro over time, the cost savings for us will really add up.” routine maintenance tasks as well as the development of
preventative measures using powerful monitors and scripts.
Built-in technologies that improve security and help lower
Comprehensive remote management capabilities that
customers’ risk. Because Arterian can reach machines that are
improve and extend your services offering. LabTech is
powered down, security software updates are accomplished
now taking advantage of powerful new remote capabilities
much more quickly, resulting in better customer protection.
that are built into PCs with Intel vPro technology. These
This augments Arterian’s focus on patching as a critical activity.
new tools significantly improve down-the-wire services
“We’re increasing our focus on patching and adopting new soft-
with remote power-up capability, proactive alerting, and
ware tools now,” says West. “With vPro-based PCs, we can tell
persistent asset and configuration information.
LabTech to turn on the machines and patch them. This will make
a significant difference in the security benefit experienced by Deliver services after hours to decrease customer
our clients.” If a given set of PCs are vPro-enabled, Arterian can interruptions and increase your utilization. Because
you can remotely power up, power down, and reset PCs
reduce the time to patch 95% of the PCs from 6 hours to 1 hour.
with Intel vPro technology, you can shift more work to off-
Active and passive power management capabilities that hours when it won’t interfere with customer productivity.
reduce energy costs by $450 over the life of the PC. With These functions include patch management using
the ability to turn off groups of vPro-based PCs after hours and LabTech’s powerful Patch Manager, software updates,
then power them back up before the start of the next business virus scans, backups, and asset inventories.
day, Arterian can now save their customers money through lower Improved monitoring and alerting that can prevent
energy usage, making a substantial positive impact on their ROI. problems. The LabTech plus Intel vPro technology solution
“We can save a typical customer over $12 per PC per month,” says takes advantage of new alert templates to set alerts, create
West. “Over the three-year life of a PC, it comes to about $450. tickets, or establish auto-fix script actions for faster, less
That’s a significant reduction in the customer’s total cost of costly remediations—often before the customer knows
ownership and helps us to promote refreshing systems with vPro there’s a problem. After-hours NOC alerts can be sent
PCs.” West also notes that as more and more companies become to a remote NOC team or designated technician.
interested in their impact on the environment, this becomes one
more value that Arterian can offer.
Better customer experiences and improved account control.
Because Intel vPro technology helps Arterian respond more “We can save a typical customer over $12 per PC
quickly to customer issues, customer’s productivity and satis- per month. Over the three-year life of a PC, it
faction are improved. “With a vPro-based PC, we can reduce the
comes to $450. That’s a significant reduction in
average user’s downtime by 50%,” says West. “Anytime we tell
that to a customer, they can do the math and see the positive
the customer’s total cost of ownership and helps
impact on their employees’ productivity.” Reducing downtime us to promote refreshing systems with vPro PCs.”
due to PC problems or waiting for updates to run is fundamental
to how Arterian gets their customers’ IT “out of the way” so – Jamison West, CEO, Arterian
that the customer can focus on business. West notes that the
3

4. increased remote capabilities of vPro-based PCs will help Arterian
offer high service levels to very remote clients. “vPro makes it possi- Overview of Intel vPro Technology
ble to deliver a high level of service to clients that are farther away, Desktop, notebook, and tablet PCs based on Intel vPro technol-
say two or three hours from us. This expands our available market and ogy, combined with a leading software management application
helps us better serve existing clients with very remote branch offices.” such as LabTech, provide unprecedented capabilities. These
advances allow you to deliver more value to your managed
Delivering Increased Margins services customers by helping them spend smarter, get more
and Competitive Advantage done, and be more secure.
Because of these advantages, Arterian has made Intel vPro technology- • emote diagnosis and repair reduce costly and time-consuming
R
based PCs their standard recommendation for all clients as they refresh deskside and service depot visits by resolving problems and
their PCs. “vPro results in more stable systems and faster response times, repairing PCs quickly from the console—even if the PC is pow-
which means higher productivity for our clients,” says West. “The addi- ered off or in standby mode, is connected to a wireless network,
tional cost is only about $20 per system, which is insignificant when or has a disabled OS.2
compared to the benefits to the client.” At the same time, vPro-based • VM Remote Control3 connects easily, maintains the
K
systems support better margins for Arterian. “When a customer becomes connection through reboot cycles, and gives technicians
all vPro, it will mean an 8% to 10% reduction in my labor cost at that a “full GUI” view of the PC they are working on.
customer, which translates into higher margins.“ For Arterian, better
• ecure remote power up and power cycling allow you to
S
customer service and higher margins add up to competitive advantage.
perform scheduled maintenance, backups, and monitoring
after hours.2
For More Information
• ncrypted, remote security updates ensure that security
E
For more information on the benefits of Intel vPro technology
patches are up to date and speed the deployment of critical
for small and midsize businesses, visit msp.intel.com.
patches, even to systems that are off or down.
For more information on Arterian, visit www.arterian.com. • emote asset tracking eliminates time-consuming manual
R
inventory of hardware and software with remote inventory
For more information on LabTech’s management console
management, even if the system is off or down.
software, visit www.labtechsoftware.com.
Solution provided by:
1
Intel® vPro™ Technology is sophisticated and requires setup and activation. Availability of features and results will depend upon the setup and configuration of your hardware, software and IT environment. To learn more visit: http://www.intel.com/
technology/vpro.
2
PCs with Intel® vPro™ processor technology include Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT). Intel® Active Management Technology requires the computer system to have an Intel ® AMT-enabled chipset, network hardware and software,
as well as connection with a power source and a corporate network connection. Setup requires configuration by the purchaser and may require scripting with the management console or further integration into existing security frameworks to
enable certain functionality. It may also require modifications of implementation of new business processes. For more information, see http://www.intel.com/technology/manage/iamt/
3
KVM Remote Control (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) is only available with Intel® Core™ i5 vPro™ and Core™ i7 vPro™ processors with Intel® Active Management technology activated and configured and with integrated graphics active. Discrete graphics
are not supported.
4
Source: Arterian based on field testing performed during September 2011.
This document is for informational purposes only. Intel makes no warranties, express or implied, in this document.
Copyright © 2011 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel, the Intel logo, vPro, and Core inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.
*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
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