Late in 2009 the data center team identified five vendors with appropriate solutions. According to Al-Qudsi, the capabilities of Columbus, Ohio-based Emerson Network Power's Avocent (Huntsville, Ala.) division stood out. "The Avocent KVM [keyboard, video, mouse] switch appliances could be accessed remotely from anywhere in the world and were integrated with Microsoft [Redmond, Wash.] Active Directory. This was unique," he notes.