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Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP)

Zero Touch Provisioning with Opengear’s Platform

In today’s hyperconnected fast-moving, and complex world, manual deployments are a thing of the past—an error-prone, time-consuming, and burdensome process that results in delays, security risks, and increased costs. To overcome these hurdles, Opengear has introduced a new advanced solution: Lighthouse Service Portal.

As part of Opengear’s hybrid cloud deployment model, the all-new Lighthouse Service Portal is a cloud-based service that simplifies and automates the initial setup of all Opengear appliances and more. The Lighthouse Service Portal (LSP) offers a zero-touch provisioning service that automates the onboarding of Opengear appliances into Lighthouse.

Customers can then leverage configuration management tools and API integrations to push configurations through the Lighthouse Smart Management Fabric and Connected Resource Gateway, completing the provisioning of Opengear appliances and connected network resources.

Manual provisioning methods require logging into a single unit via CLI or Web/Node UI, or low-touch provisioning that requires a USB stick and sending a deployment team to each location. This leads to configuration delays and drift—Opengear’s new cloud-based service delivers secure and streamlined zero-touch provisioning.

Zero Touch Provisioning with Lighthouse Service Portal

  • Remote user establishes an Opengear Customer Portal account
  • And accesses the Lighthouse Service Portal & defines enrollment and configuration preferences
  • Lighthouse Service Portal enabled Opengear appliance calls home, obtains its config details
  • New Opengear appliance onboarding completes
  • Users can leverage config tools and API integrations through the Smart Management Fabric (SMF) and Connected Resource Gateway (CRG) completing the provisioning of Opengear appliances & connected IT resources

 

Benefits of Opengear’s Zero-Touch Provisioning

  • Time and cost savings: Zero-touch provisioning helps move from smart hands and manual processes to smarter capabilities. Instead of using in-house deployment teams or hiring third-party engineers, to set up new Opengear appliances and connected network resources, customers can take advantage of the Lighthouse Service Portal.
  • Avoid initial configuration delays: Initial configuration comes with the risk of human error. The Lighthouse Service Portal via zero touch provisioning minimizes any errors associated with initial configuration, saving time and labor costs. More importantly, organizations avoid unnecessary delays during initial setup or configuration drift in the long term, making their IT management infrastructure ready to use quicker.
  • Improved productivity and scalability: The Lighthouse Service Portal allows for the automated initial set up of many appliances, making the process more efficient as deployment scales across multiple locations. Customers use the Lighthouse Service Portal to improve productivity and scale with ease.
  • Secure deployments: The Lighthouse Service Portal provides end-to-end deployment, keeping sensitive information secure without the need for IT experts to travel to sites with USB sticks. Configuration files often contain confidential information. It can be risky to give a third-party engineer local access to such sensitive data via a USB stick when bringing up a new site. With LSP, Opengear provides a streamlined end-to-end deployment experience, that keeps sensitive data safe.
  • Flexible deployment model: Experience the ultimate flexibility with Lighthouse, the cornerstone of the Opengear solution. Our innovative software creates a unified abstraction layer, available in a hybrid model that combines cloud and customer-controlled elements for optimal efficiency and control.

Enhance your deployments with the cloud-based Lighthouse Service Portal, which seamlessly integrates with Opengear’s solution. Whether deployed on-premises or in the cloud, Lighthouse used in conjunction with Lighthouse Service Portal simplifies and streamlines the initial setup of your Opengear appliances, ensuring a smoother and more efficient Day 0/1 experience.

Success Story: Secure and Streamlined Deployments with the Opengear Lighthouse Service Portal

A multinational technology company, an Opengear customer, with data centers and offices around the globe, was preparing to deploy and provision IT infrastructure in new data centers. As part of this project, they aimed to install Opengear appliances across multiple rows of equipment in these new facilities.

Initially, they opted for the low-touch deployment model, which involved hiring IT experts, coordinating their schedules, and sending them to the data center with a config file on a USB stick.

However, they soon realized this approach was inefficient and costly due to the scale of the project. Managing the third-party engineers’ schedules was challenging and paying setup fees for each appliance deployment was cost prohibitive. Since this wasn’t a true end-to-end method, it didn’t allow them to maintain security throughout the entire provisioning process.

As a beta user of the Lighthouse Service Portal, this global IT organization decided to utilize our new cloud-based service for their large deployment project. The results were immediate, with significant cost savings of thousands of dollars, many hours of full-time employee project management saved, and the elimination of security risks with end-to-end zero-touch provisioning.