From a single central console, the Dell™ Digital KVM switch, engineered by Avocent, provides out-of-band access to devices in the rack even when the network is down or when the device OS crashes. Unlike software alternatives, digital KVMs are uniquely capable of bringing a new server up from bare metal, diagnosing and restoring a failing device, updating firmware or enabling BIOS-level access, and patching a device independent of the state of the managed device or network.

The Digital switches give users the ability to securely access manage traditional servers remotely via their keyboard, video and mouse ports as well as the ability to manage these servers, and other devices like storage heads or network switches, regardless of whether the server or network is up and running. Devices are accessed either via a modem connection or over a TCP/IP network. These connections support DES, 3DES, AES or 128-bit SSL encryption of both KVM and Virtual Media sessions.