White Paper | October 2005 When LCD Monitors can reduce TCO
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Includes anti-theft measures
The popularity and compact size of Philips LCD monitors also make them a ready target for
thieves. SmartManage will indicate if displays are moved from their assigned locations by providing
a warning message to a designated manager or e-mail account. If a monitor is stolen, the enabled
security function can also prevent its use at another site.
Maximizing power saving
With constantly rising energy costs, organizations need to maximize the power-saving capabilities
of their assets. Philips LCD monitors already deliver energy savings of 20 per cent higher than the
industry average. However, large numbers of unattended LCD monitors, even in standby mode,
will have a significant energy consumption after working hours. On the other hand, switching those
unattended LCD monitors on and off manually is time-consuming and uneconomic. SmartManage
provides an efficient tool that enables corporate IT staff to meet this universal power management
need from a single, central location.
Adjustment without using physical monitor controls
The performance and settings of individual monitors can be adjusted using the SmartManage client
without touching the physical monitor controls. In addition, IT staff can remotely return all LCD
monitors - especially when unattended - to factory default settings, without the need to spend
significant time and manpower for on-site adjustment ‘rounds’.
Addresses essential corporate IT management needs
SmartManage allows IT staff to manage their monitor assets remotely and efficiently. Its wide
range of functions, including power on/off, display settings, asset reports, monitor security and
instant communication with users, address some of the essential needs of the modern corporate
IT management environment. In this way SmartManage significantly reduces the administrative and
asset management workload and by doing so makes a major contribution to reducing Total Cost of
Ownership.
How SmartManage works
SmartManage uses a new, bidirectional communication protocol, the Display Data Communica-
tions Command Interface (DDC/CI) standard, to allow Philips LCD monitors to communicate with
the Altiris agent on the client computer and the asset management system. A typical SmartManage
configuration is shown in Figure 8.
Network components accessible with standard
asset management platform
LCD monitor accessible with
Philips SmartManage
Central site
Remote site a
Remote site b
Figure 7: Typical IT infrastructure, including multiple LCD monitors
Intranet
Internet
