Does Utelogy require any hardware?
No. Utelogy is a pure software solution that simply runs on a computer. And because it’s an open platform, you can use a computer of your choosing. Often this is a computer that you already have, or an inexpensive tablet, desktop or other computer you can buy from many sources.
How does Utelogy talk to devices and equipment?
Utelogy communicates over the network/intranet to provide control and management from anywhere. Some equipment already has a network jack that simply plugs into the network, allowing Utelogy to control and monitor it. For devices that don’t have network capability, they can easily be network enabled with a low-cost device such as those from Global Cache. As long as your device is controllable via Serial, IR, Contact Closure, USB or a built-in network jack, Utelogy can control it.
What equipment does Utelogy support?
Utelogy supports any manufacturer make & model of equipment, so long as that equipment provides some type of control interface, which just about all equipment does. We provide this through a small “driver” file that provides all the know-how to control and monitor any particular device. Utelogy is committed to unified interoperability with all equipment and software vendors.
What kind of network do I need?
Utelogy works on any IP enabled network, such as the internet or your own internal network. Utelogy works on VLANs, VPNs, and Private and Public networks. With a simple yet secure protocol, Utelogy makes no impact on your network. Simply put, if your network can browse to the internet (and we know it can, ’cause you’re reading this!), you can run Utelogy.
Do I have to know how to program to use Utelogy?
No. Utelogy requires no programming. Simply install Utelogy on your computer and walk through the easy setup wizard. Then use the Configurator to point and click your way to making your AV control system work the way you want it to.
What level of network traffic and bandwidth consumption should we anticipate when using the Utelogy platform?
You can assume, that on average, each device is using approximately 14Kbps up and down. This should be TCP traffic, but in some cases could be UDP or Mcast discovery traffic depending on how you deploy. There could be occasional bursts of information that could push up the traffic, but for these type of scenarios use the 14Kbps (this means around 70 devices would consume only 1Mbps).
With this information the question to answer then is not how much traffic is generated by a single room, but how much traffic hits the U-Server. Consider the following: each device is connected to a Gigabit port whether this is shared or not (e.g. through a wireless AP) this means that the volume per port is never an issue.
The next point is the aggregation. Suppose you have 1000 devices on your network all talking to a single U-Server--you would receive under 20Mbps. So bandwidth is unlikely to be the problem.
What could be a problem is the write speed of the selected systems and the queuing mechanisms on the server. As all packets are small, there is some overhead on the interface, and there is a need for at least a 1Gbps interface but ideally a 10Gbps interface. The benefit resides in the fact that the quicker the interface, the quicker the package handling will be.
On the server side you would have to state that the primary package collector and filesystem would reside on an SSD ideally in a Striped & Mirrored mode for performance and redundancy.
On older file systems we have already witnessed that packets are filling the buffer faster than the server can upload to the cloud, so optimized servers will become relevant in larger installations
Can drivers communicate with devices securely?
Utelogy drivers are written to utilize ALL protocols supported by the device we are building a driver for, which includes protocols such as SSH or HTTPS. If the device we are building a driver for supports SSH, we will offer that protocol as an option along with any other protocols the device might support.
How can I learn more?
We’d be glad to answer any questions you have and work with you to see how Utelogy can meet your particular AV Control and Management needs. Probably the best place to start is with a web demonstration where you can see Utelogy in action and learn about the key features and benefits.
Contact us to schedule your demonstration now!
