Diamond Network Technologies (DNT), a Pretoria-based research and development company, says it is challenging the foundations of the multi-million rand PC support industry with its locally developed Di-NIC remote management technology.
The initiative coincides with DNT`s planned triple listing on the JSE, Nasdaq and Nikkei in the middle of this year, and the roll-out of its wholly owned US- and Tokyo-based subsidiaries.
"Support is the single most expensive component of running a PC on a network. Up to 80% of all support calls are software-related," says Rhys Taylor, DNT sales and marketing manager. "What if you take control of a PC remotely, through hardware - even before the operating system has loaded - and troubleshoot, manage or support almost any software or hardware component without leaving your desk?"
Using Di-NIC, DNT has made this a reality, and has successfully deployed it in some of the largest government and parastatal organisations in the country.
"It makes better sense connecting a remote PC in a rural township to a central support server than sending a technician on horseback to fix a problem that simply doesn`t warrant the time and expense," notes Taylor.
"This is no `pie-in-the-sky` stuff either. Using Di-NIC we were able to completely recover a remote SAPS computer that had lost its entire database of covert operations from an office in Pretoria, without ever physically touching the PC or consulting an external technician.
"In simple terms, Di-NIC is programmed into the extended BIOS space of the BIOS flash chip in PCs, modems, networks interface cards (NICs) or even floppy disks or hard disk partitions," says Taylor. "It activates itself after the basic BIOS routines (such as memory and hardware integrity checks) have executed, at the point where the PC is ready to load an operating system, putting the PC in a 'pre-boot` state.
"All we require to manage the PC in the pre-boot state is a physical connection to a network or telephone line and the Di-NIC management software," he continues. "In effect, the operator can then mount the PC`s hard disk as if it were connected to his own PC, and take control of any of its resources, all without relying on the host OS or application software."
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