The What: Utelogy has added USB device monitoring to enhance employee productivity. With this feature, IT departments can deliver an improved user experience for employees using these kinds of collaboration tools.
The What Else: By adding U-Computer and USB devices to a Utelogy configuration, USB devices now become managed assets within the U-Manage portal. U-Computer acts as a proxy for Utelogy drivers, where secure APIs are used, that don’t expose the API outside of the local host. For those assets that don’t have an API, Utelogy can also monitor generic USB peripherals and assets. After installing the USB driver on Utelogy’s U-Server and connecting the device to U-Computer in the room, Utelogy can provide users with rich data, analytics, and monitoring capabilities.
[Utelogy Launches Updated U-Manage Management Portal]
“A key frustration for organizations has been the lack of visibility into these devices,” said Frank Pellkofer, president and co-founder of Utelogy. “The average huddle room probably has six or seven devices in total and half of those are USB devices—cameras, microphones and speakers. If you can only monitor half of your devices, that creates a less than desirable user-experience. And now that we can also look at reporting and analytics, organizations are able to deliver a better workplace technology experience at a lower cost. The extraction of actionable data for these devices is invaluable.”
The Bottom Line: With companies rapidly moving to unified communications (UC) including Webex, Zoom, Ring Central, and other computer-based collaboration platforms, a growing number of USB peripheral devices are part of these AV systems. With this introduction, administrators can now monitor the status of these USB devices and gain insights into their usage.
