Hewlett-Packard has added another weapon to its network management arsenal following the announcement of its agreement to license source code from US-based software developer, Riversoft, and to take an equity stake in the company.
The agreement centres around Riversoft`s Network Management Operating System (NMOS) Version 3 technology - software which offers powerful discovery and monitoring of IP networks, and automatically recognises and adapts to changes on that network. HP says it will integrate NMOS v3 into future releases of its multi-faceted HP OpenView enterprise management suite.
It is not just IP network discovery and monitoring that Riversoft brings to the table with NMOS v3, though. According to Gary de Menezes, the software business manager for Middle East and Africa at HP, the technology will offer significantly enhanced operations management functionality to service providers, Internet-based businesses and corporate enterprises.
"If you look at the network management solution market, you`ll see that most tools have been designed with the corporate enterprise in mind," he explains.
"We are not neglecting the enterprise, but the recent explosion of Internet, application, network and SAN service providers has changed the network management dynamic - assured availability and assured levels of service are now more critical than ever. The problem is, most network management tools have not been sufficiently tweaked to cater to that demand.
"Riversoft develops its products specifically for this [IP-based] market sector, hence this agreement. And by integrating the NMOS product into components of HP OpenView, it will be possible for HP to offer customers the ability to centrally and securely manage a disparate IP network with many devices, all from a single location."
It is expected that NMOS v3 will be initially integrated into HP OpenView Network Node Manager (NNM) - arguably the software solution which pioneered IP network discovery in the mid-1990`s. The addition of NMOS-enhanced Layer 2 topology monitoring will clearly improve HP OpenView customers` understanding of the physical network connectivity supporting their business systems.
"There is one key factor to remember about managing networks that support new economy businesses: as the nature of network complexity increases, so the management products have to keep up with the pace of change. This means more automated, dynamic and accurate management software to address broader infrastructure requirements," says de Menezes.
"By striking this relationship with Riversoft, we can offer our customers the benefits of the broad range of HP OpenView solutions that can utilise the NMOS information."
HP confirms that the Riversoft-enhanced solutions are set to hit local shores early next year and will come to market through the network of HP OpenView authorised business partners. For more information surf to www.openview.hp.com and www.riversoft.com.
Fact file
The agreement officially signed by Hewlett-Packard Company and Riversoft on 6 November 2000 provides HP with a source code license for the Riversoft Network Management Operating System (NMOS) Version 3;
The RiverSoft NMOS discovers and builds connectivity information of complex network environments, including support for advanced networking technologies such as ATM, frame relay, switched Ethernet, VLAN and VPNs;
HP OpenView is the world`s leading provider of Internet and e-services management solutions. The solutions are at work in more than 135 000 multivendor distributed computing environments worldwide.
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