Architecture Overview

The NextNine Service Automation (NSA) platform for remote product service is a distributed software system consisting of two main components - the Virtual Support Engineer™ (VSE) and the Service Center.

 

 

Virtual Support Engineer™ (VSE)


The Virtual Support Engineer (VSE) is a lightweight Java application that resides next to the supported product at each customer site. The VSE is “agentless”, meaning a single instance can connect to and service multiple products or components which reside on the same customer network.

The VSE is “external” to the supported product (although it can optionally reside on the same hardware). This allows service organization to constantly build and develop new use cases without making changes to the supported product. The VSE uses both standard protocols (such as Telnet, FTP, SNMP, OPC and WMI) as well as proprietary protocols to monitor and collect information from the supported product.


The VSE automates the tasks that a normal support engineer goes through, including data collection, diagnosis, log file capture and configuration management. These tasks are carried out by executing rules, created using the NextNine Rule Builder, that are relevant for your specific product or system.


The VSE includes a web interface accessible by the end-customer system administrator and by the service provider's support engineers. This provides the end-customer with complete visibility and control regarding the health of the deployed product, as well as any actions performed remotely by the service organization.


Service Center

 

The Service Center acts as the central back-end for the service provider. Using the service center, the service provider's support engineers can centrally view the health of supported systems across all customer sites, remotely execute diagnostic and corrective routines, and develop new rules for supporting new issues. The Service Center is made up of a set of applications, databases and servers. All the displays are viewed via the Service Center's web-based interface.


The Service Center can be deployed on-premise or on- demand, based on the needs of your organization.

NextNine is a global provider of support automation solutions. Its Virtual Support Engineer™ allows technology vendors to proactively monitor and service their products at the customer site and automate the discovery, diagnosis and resolution of problems before the customer is disrupted. Global leaders utilize NextNine’s platform to cost-effectively increase customer satisfaction, reduce support costs, secure service revenues and maximize system uptime.