ColourFi - Remote product feature testing using Remote.It

Wireless Projector Management Company uses remote.it to test expanding feature set with actual customers before they become widely available

Australia-based ColourFi Technologies helps large organizations such as colleges, universities, government agencies and museums better manage their projector assets to control usage, reduce power costs and automatically order replacement parts such as bulbs. The company’sClassroom Projector Controller uses WiFi to remotely control projectors and associated devices (TVs, speakers, and air conditioning) from a single device that is networked and can be controlled remotely.

The controller can be customized with hundreds of different configurations. ColourFi uses remote.it’s virtual private internet (VPI)technology to securely beta test new features to its Classroom ProjectorController with select customers prior to full-scale roll outs to their entirec ustomer pool.

Customer Challenge

When doing beta testing with customers, it became frustrating for both ColourFi and its customers if something went wrong with the network connections to ColourFi enabled projectors. Part of the frustration came from the reliance on Virtual Private Network (VPN) portals. The IP addresses for these portals were provided by internet service providers and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol networks and manually kept in spreadsheets that had to be updated manually with every test. The beta testing also required ColourFi’s clients to do firewall configurations such as port forwarding to allow the ColourFi enabled devices to communicate with ColourFi, which would cause delays as clients waited for network technicians to make firewall changes.

ColourFi was looking for an easier and more secure connection to use for these tests that did not need to rely on ever-changing IP addresses.After researching different solutions it decided to go with remote.it and their virtual private internet (VPI) because they does not require a fixed, global IP address to connect.

Top 4 reasons ColourFi chose Remote.It

1. Ease of use

2. Competitive pricing

3. Excellent reputation

4. It just works!

remote.it Solution Overview

By utilizing remote.it’s VPI solution, ColourFi no longer has to rely on global IP addresses, VPNs, and challenging configuration changes to customer firewalls to successfully deploy and test its solutions. With remote.it providing secure network access to ColourFi, technicians can now see the screen at the customers’ locations, remotely transfer files and updates, and use Secure Shell (SSH) to log in and work with equipment without the need to dispatch a technician to the site. ColourFi is able to ensure reliable connectivity for equipment without exposing it to hackers who might be scanning global IP addresses for vulnerabilities, since the VPI effectively makes the equipment invisible to attackers.

Instead of relying on spreadsheets of IP addresses that are always out of date, ColourFi technicians now have one place where they can log in and connect to devices. It doesn’t even matter if the device’s IP address has changed since the last time a technician logged in, since the VPI keeps the device securely connected over remote.it’s cloud-based routing.Since deploying remote.it, the solution has saved ColourFi the time wasted manually updating IP address lists and has increased customer satisfaction with the beta testing process.

Remote.It Solution Benefits At-a-Glance

• Remote.it’s VPI provides a more secure connection compared to aVPN connection
• Clients do not need to do any firewall configuration.
• remote.it allows ColourFi to do real-world testing with new firmware before it is made public making its product more reliable.

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About ColourFi

ColourFi Technologies was started on a simple premise: to help organizations better manage their fleet of audio/visual projectors.Organizations such as schools, colleges, museums and government agencies can often have several rooms equipped with projectors and related equipment. Without proper management, these devices can be accidentally left on when not in use leading to projector bulbs burning out and high energy costs.

The Classroom Projector Controller allows administrators to set a shutdown time for each device – saving power, lamp hours and ultimately money. Using machine learning, the smart shutdown setting alerts anyone in the room with a countdown that the device is about to shut-off and allows users to snooze this shutdown if the device is still in use. Based on the snoozing patterns, the smart algorithm will adjust the shutdown time automatically. The controller can also remotely detect faults with equipment and can automatically order replacement parts, greatly reducing projector downtime.

Download a PDF version of the ColourFi case study

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