Arula launches serial remote control

Any device with a serial port, from routers to light fixtures, can be remotely

managed via the World Wide Web, according to the recently launched Arula

Systems Inc.

Arula, a spin-off of Hewlett-Packard Co., is also officially launching

its product suite, which is based on the Arula Universal Agent Platform.

The platform enables a user to manage — via a Web interface — any device

with a serial port.

The company already has signed up the Air Force as a customer, said

Dickson Chu, vice president of business development at Arula.

Arula's product suite has four components:

* SecureConsole, which enables an IT manager to plug any single device

into it via the serial port and manage it remotely.

* SecureConsole SSL, which adds Secure Sockets Layer encryption to the

appliance with up to 128-bit encryption.

* Cerebus x8, which offers the same SSL security but can manage up to

eight devices in a rack-mountable chassis.

* ConsoleManager, which will monitor a large number of Arula devices

(up to 250 ports) in a single graphical user interface.

The ConsoleManager will be available by the second quarter of this year,

and the other devices are available immediately, said Juggy Krishnamurthy,

vice president of engineering and operations at the Cupertino, Calif.-based

company.

An aircraft manufacturer is using Arula products to reduce its energy

bill by remotely managing the lights in its hangars, Chu said. "That whole

implementation only took about a week and a half, and they can individually

shut off each bulb through their IP addresses."