OUTsurance selects NightWatchman® Enterprise to improve patch management with Wake-on-LAN and power manage its 2,000 PCs

Leading South African short-term insurer improves manageability of PC estate and stands to save 146,000 kWh of electricity per year – the equivalent annual electricity use of 20 homes

Cape Town, 10th November, 2011 - 1E (www.1e.com), the global leader in Efficient IT solutions, today announced that it has been selected by OUTsurance (www.outsurance.co.za), to improve patch management and save energy across its estate of 2,000 desktop PCs. The deployment will be handled by 1E preferred business partner, sustainableIT (www.sustainableit.co.za).

“Our staff would often not reboot their machines. In some cases, machines had not been rebooted for more than 50 days, which was clearly impacting patching and performance. This was when we realized that enough was enough and we needed to do something,” says Simon Faragher, OUTsurance project manager.

“We selected NightWatchman® Enterprise from 1E because we needed a proven solution for reliable patch management. Our number one goal is to keep our PCs healthy and available, while guaranteeing zero user disruption, so it was the obvious choice,” continues Faragher.

WakeUp from 1E is a feature of NightWatchman® Enterprise, which reduces the burden of administrator support while maintaining Computer Health™ to ensure that users always remain productive. It is a Wake-on-LAN solution that enables rapid deployment of patches across a network out-of-hours and automatic routine maintenance and software distribution.
“The C02 savings we stand to make as a result of automatically shutting down our PCs was an additional reason for our purchase decision. We stand to save 145 metric tonnes a year – that’s the equivalent emissions from the average annual electricity use of 20 homes,” concludes Faragher.

Initially, OUTsurance ran a test on 1,678 machines over a period of 20 days. The solution helped the insurer see that 33% of desktops and 3% of monitors were being left on overnight, wasting energy unnecessarily. It also showed that 29% of desktops and 4% of monitors were being left on, but only 11% of PCs are actually used, during the weekend.

Tim James, director at sustainableIT, says: “It’s rewarding to see the deployment of NightWatchman Enterprise help OUTsurance solve its immediate need to improve patch manageability across the organization, save money and positively contribute to its own corporate C02 emissions reductions.”

About OUTsurance
OUTsurance has established itself as the leader in the direct insurance market offering car insurance, home insurance and business insurance. OUTsurance has now also expanded its product offering into the life insurance market, offering cover in case of death, disability or critical illness. For awesome service and affordable insurance premiums that will suit your budget, get an insurance quote from OUTsurance. For more information, please visit: www.outsurance.co.za

About Sustainable IT
SustainableIT is based in Cape Town, South Africa. The company is a pioneer in the Green IT and sustainable computing market and was recognized by Global Industry Analysts (Green IT Services – A Global Strategic Business Report, June 2010) as a key global player in this emerging market. For more information, please visit http://www.sustainableIT.co.za