When asked to describe his business model, Jamison West puts it simply: “You run your business, we’ll run your IT.”

As an encapsulation of the managed services model, it doesn’t get much simpler—or more complete—than that.

As CEO of Arterian, the leading managed services provider in Seattle, West has built upon that model since

the company’s transition to being a “pure-play” MSP in 2007. Now delivered by 30 employees, that model—and

Arterian’s execution of it—are proven. “The real power of managed services—where we take full responsibility for

the client’s servers, PCs, and network—is the goal alignment between the managed service provider and the client,”

explains West. “The client needs reliable IT to pursue their business objectives. We need to minimize the IT problems

they experience in order to support our margins. We and the client succeed or fail together. We only make money

when they don’t have problems.” Succeeding within that business model depends on having the right processes and

tools to minimize problems and the costs associated with both maintenance and remediation activities. And indeed,

West credits Arterian’s success to a continual focus on building highly efficient processes and practices. “We focus

heavily on the best practices, tools, and services that allow us to both control cost and elevate the quality of our

managed services,” says West. “We use powerful tools such as LabTech* and ConnectWise,* and play an active role

in how those tools develop over time.” (West sits on ConnectWise’s Advisory Council). “We’re proactive when it

comes to driving improvements to our processes and our vendors’ tools.”

“ With a vPro-based

PC, we can reduce

the average user’s

downtime by 50%.

Anytime we tell

that to a customer,

they can do the

math and see the

positive impact on

their employees’

productivity.”

– Jamison West, CEO, Arterian

Case StudyIntel® vPro™ Technology

Arterian

Pure-play MSP Uses Intel® vPro™ Technology-Based PCs to Hone Processes, Increase Margins, and Strengthen Customer ServiceAdvanced PC management capabilities help Arterian cut labor costs 8-10% while reducing PC downtime by 50%

Advanced Tools Save $100 per Trouble Ticket and Accelerate RepairsThis approach recently led Arterian to adopt Intel® vPro™

technology-based1 HP desktop and laptop PCs as a standard

part of their solution. The advanced manageability and security

features of Intel vPro technology allow Arterian to significantly

streamline a number of key PC management tasks within their

existing LabTech management console software. This both

reduces their cost and helps eliminate downtime and interrup-

tions for PC users. The power of this solution has three elements:

•Increasedabilitiestomonitor,manage,andrepairPCsremotely2— regardless of power state or operating system health—that greatly reduce maintenance and management costs and increase the utilization of Arterian’s personnel.

•Increasedsecuritycapabilitiesthatbetterprotectthecustomer’scritical data while reducing downtime.

•Astandardized,energy-efficientplatformthatcanmeet the developing demands of the customer’s business while significantly reducing total cost of ownership (TCO).

These capabilities give Arterian considerable advantages.

”Fewer truck rolls—at a minimum cost of $80-100 each—keeps

labor costs down,” explains West. “At the same time, keeping

the technician in our office lets them multitask on problems,

further reducing our costs. And the customer’s problems can

be addressed more quickly, getting them back to work faster.”

“Fewer truck rolls—at a minimum cost of

$80-100 each—keeps labor costs down.”– Jamison West, CEO, Arterian

Advanced remote capabilities that significantly increase

efficiency and reduce costs. The advanced remote capabili-

ties of Intel vPro technology allow Arterian to maintain and repair

PCs more quickly and at lower cost. This is true for both normal

maintenance activities and problem resolutions. For example,

for a typical hardware problem, Arterian can power up the PC, run

diagnostics remotely, and see what’s on the user’s screen using

hardware-based KVM Remote Control.3 This allows Arterian’s tech-

nicians to determine the problem quickly without relying on the end

user’s ability to type in commands or report what’s on the screen.

“The ability to remotely diagnose hardware problems saves a lot

of time,” says West. ”You can quickly determine the part needed,

get it ordered, and then get it fixed in one visit rather than two.”

Overall, this ability reduces Arterian’s average time to resolve a

hardware problem from 10 hour to 4 hours.

Remote repair of OS problems reduces repair times 75%.

The impact of Intel vPro technology on the repair of OS prob-

lems is even larger than its impact on hardware problems. With

Intel vPro technology’s exclusive hardware-based KVM Remote

Control, Arterian can repair a PC that has a disabled operating

system. Like software-based KVM tools, it allows technicians to

remotely control the keyboard, video and mouse on a customer’s

PC. But unlike software-based KVM tools, KVM Remote Control

connects easily, maintains the connection through reboot cycles,

and gives the technician a “full GUI” view of the PC they are work-

ing on. ”KVM Remote Control is great when you have a hung OS,”

says West. “It eliminates a truck roll. The client doesn’t have to

Table 1. Delivering More to Customers Through Intel® vPro™ TechnologyArterian’s deployment of PCs based on Intel vPro technology yields better IT functionality and lower service delivery cost4

ActivityWithout Intel vPro Technology

With Intel vPro Technology Improvement

Average time to resolve a hardware problem 10 hours 4 hours Reduced 60%

Average time to resolve an OS problem 2 hours 30 minutes Reduced 75%

Average amount of downtime per PC per month 4 hours 2 hours Reduced 50%

Number of PCs that can be managed per technician 100 150 50% Increase

Time to achieve 95% patch saturation 6 hours 1 hour Reduced 67%

Power cost savings per PC over 3-year life span $0 $451 TCO lowered by $451

HP desktops and laptops support Arterian’s mission

Arterian relies on HP desktop and laptop PCs with Intel vPro

technology as a key part of their managed services solution.

“Like any other part of our client solution, we were looking

for a strong partner that can help us deliver reliable IT

services,” says Jamison West, CEO of Arterian. “HP has a clear

strategy for business-class products. HP PCs are reliable

and well designed. And their warranty support is fast, which

helps support our service level agreements with our clients.”

2

have a Windows* disk on hand. We can mount an ISO over the

Internet and recover the OS. We can watch the reboots as they

happen. And on top of all this, our technician can multitask while

he’s doing the repair.” West estimates that for a typical OS repair,

a PC with Intel vPro technology reduces the repair time from

2 hours to 30 minutes. “Customers don’t expect OS problems to

be solved that quickly, so this really boosts client satisfaction,” he

notes. “And as more and more of our client base are converted to

vPro over time, the cost savings for us will really add up.”

Built-in technologies that improve security and help lower

customers’ risk. Because Arterian can reach machines that are

powered down, security software updates are accomplished

much more quickly, resulting in better customer protection.

This augments Arterian’s focus on patching as a critical activity.

“We’re increasing our focus on patching and adopting new soft-

ware tools now,” says West. “With vPro-based PCs, we can tell

LabTech to turn on the machines and patch them. This will make

a significant difference in the security benefit experienced by

our clients.” If a given set of PCs are vPro-enabled, Arterian can

reduce the time to patch 95% of the PCs from 6 hours to 1 hour.

Active and passive power management capabilities that

reduce energy costs by $450 over the life of the PC. With

the ability to turn off groups of vPro-based PCs after hours and

then power them back up before the start of the next business

day, Arterian can now save their customers money through lower

energy usage, making a substantial positive impact on their ROI.

“We can save a typical customer over $12 per PC per month,” says

West. “Over the three-year life of a PC, it comes to about $450.

That’s a significant reduction in the customer’s total cost of

ownership and helps us to promote refreshing systems with vPro

PCs.” West also notes that as more and more companies become

interested in their impact on the environment, this becomes one

more value that Arterian can offer.

Better customer experiences and improved account control.

Because Intel vPro technology helps Arterian respond more

quickly to customer issues, customer’s productivity and satis-

faction are improved. “With a vPro-based PC, we can reduce the

average user’s downtime by 50%,” says West. “Anytime we tell

that to a customer, they can do the math and see the positive

impact on their employees’ productivity.” Reducing downtime

due to PC problems or waiting for updates to run is fundamental

to how Arterian gets their customers’ IT “out of the way” so

that the customer can focus on business. West notes that the

LabTech Remote Monitoring and

Management (RMM) Solution

LabTech is the only RMM solution developed from the

ground up by managed services providers for managed

services providers. If you can think of a task or process,

LabTech can automate it. LabTech’s robust functionality can

increase technicians’ efficiency through the automation of

routine maintenance tasks as well as the development of

preventative measures using powerful monitors and scripts.

Comprehensive remote management capabilities that

improve and extend your services offering. LabTech is

now taking advantage of powerful new remote capabilities

that are built into PCs with Intel vPro technology. These

new tools significantly improve down-the-wire services

with remote power-up capability, proactive alerting, and

persistent asset and configuration information.

Deliver services after hours to decrease customer

interruptions and increase your utilization. Because

you can remotely power up, power down, and reset PCs

with Intel vPro technology, you can shift more work to off-

hours when it won’t interfere with customer productivity.

These functions include patch management using

LabTech’s powerful Patch Manager, software updates,

virus scans, backups, and asset inventories.

Improved monitoring and alerting that can prevent

problems. The LabTech plus Intel vPro technology solution

takes advantage of new alert templates to set alerts, create

tickets, or establish auto-fix script actions for faster, less

costly remediations—often before the customer knows

there’s a problem. After-hours NOC alerts can be sent

to a remote NOC team or designated technician.

“We can save a typical customer over $12 per PC

per month. Over the three-year life of a PC, it

comes to $450. That’s a significant reduction in

the customer’s total cost of ownership and helps

us to promote refreshing systems with vPro PCs.”

– Jamison West, CEO, Arterian

3

increased remote capabilities of vPro-based PCs will help Arterian

offer high service levels to very remote clients. “vPro makes it possi-

ble to deliver a high level of service to clients that are farther away,

say two or three hours from us. This expands our available market and

helps us better serve existing clients with very remote branch offices.”

Delivering Increased Margins and Competitive AdvantageBecause of these advantages, Arterian has made Intel vPro technology-

based PCs their standard recommendation for all clients as they refresh

their PCs. “vPro results in more stable systems and faster response times,

which means higher productivity for our clients,” says West. “The addi-

tional cost is only about $20 per system, which is insignificant when

compared to the benefits to the client.” At the same time, vPro-based

systems support better margins for Arterian. “When a customer becomes

all vPro, it will mean an 8% to 10% reduction in my labor cost at that

customer, which translates into higher margins.“ For Arterian, better

customer service and higher margins add up to competitive advantage.

For More InformationFor more information on the benefits of Intel vPro technology

for small and midsize businesses, visit msp.intel.com.

For more information on Arterian, visit www.arterian.com.

For more information on LabTech’s management console

software, visit www.labtechsoftware.com.

1 Intel® vPro™ Technology is sophisticated and requires setup and activation. Availability of features and results will depend upon the setup and configuration of your hardware, software and IT environment. To learn more visit: http://www.intel.com/technology/vpro.

2 PCs with Intel® vPro™ processor technology include Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT). Intel® Active Management Technology requires the computer system to have an Intel® AMT-enabled chipset, network hardware and software, as well as connection with a power source and a corporate network connection. Setup requires configuration by the purchaser and may require scripting with the management console or further integration into existing security frameworks to enable certain functionality. It may also require modifications of implementation of new business processes. For more information, see http://www.intel.com/technology/manage/iamt/

3 KVM Remote Control (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) is only available with Intel® Core™ i5 vPro™ and Core™ i7 vPro™ processors with Intel® Active Management technology activated and configured and with integrated graphics active. Discrete graphics are not supported.

4 Source: Arterian based on field testing performed during September 2011.This document is for informational purposes only. Intel makes no warranties, express or implied, in this document.

Copyright © 2011 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel, the Intel logo, vPro, and Core inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Printed in USA 1111/ET/OCG/XX/PDF Please Recycle 326315-001US

Solution provided by:

Overview of Intel vPro Technology

Desktop, notebook, and tablet PCs based on Intel vPro technol-

ogy, combined with a leading software management application

such as LabTech, provide unprecedented capabilities. These

advances allow you to deliver more value to your managed

services customers by helping them spend smarter, get more

done, and be more secure.

•Remotediagnosisandrepairreducecostlyandtime-consuming

deskside and service depot visits by resolving problems and

repairing PCs quickly from the console—even if the PC is pow-

ered off or in standby mode, is connected to a wireless network,

or has a disabled OS.2

•KVMRemoteControl3 connects easily, maintains the

connection through reboot cycles, and gives technicians

a “full GUI” view of the PC they are working on.

•Secureremotepowerupandpowercyclingallowyouto

perform scheduled maintenance, backups, and monitoring

after hours.2

•Encrypted,remotesecurityupdatesensurethatsecurity

patches are up to date and speed the deployment of critical

patches, even to systems that are off or down.

•Remoteassettrackingeliminatestime-consumingmanual

inventory of hardware and software with remote inventory

management, even if the system is off or down.