jb -
CPQ and Intel have been working for a while on a chipset standard which would allow a remote access (via either modem or web) even when the machine is 'down' as long as it has power and a few key components working. This would allow a remote service person to examine machine state, error records and retry counts, download a core dump if one was made or force one if it didn't happen, etc. I don't know exactly what the status of this is, I think they are now getting agreement from the other majors (Dell, IBM, HP, MSFT, Novell) on this. That makes this concept quite a bit more valuable, it gives the remote diagnostician more tools than he would currently have even if on site. CPQ has had this capability on their servers for several years now, since early 1995, and in 1997 it was made standard on the high end commercial desktops as well. |
