Entuity Moves into LAN Space with Eye of the Storm
Entuity Inc. upped the ante in the network monitoring software arena with its Eye of the Storm 2.0, introduced at Networld+Interop 2000 in Las Vegas. Eye of the Storm introduces the concept of proactive fault management in the LAN environment.
What separates Eye of the Storm from other network monitoring software is its focus on proactive fault management, says Susan Almeida, analyst at Network Strategy Partners LLC (www.net-strategy-partners.com). Eye of the Storm 2.0 monitors at a closer level than previous versions, providing immediate inventory down to the port level, putting all connection points under its watch.
Eye of the Storm differs from other network monitoring software by its automation of tasks that are often performed by network operators in their heads, Almeida says. Eye of the Storm addresses this in the data networking and conversion networking space, where switched LANs have become the norm.
Eye of the Storm is able to filter network events, says Barbara Meyer Harrison, vice president of marketing at Entuity (www.entuity.com). Rather than having to put in specific requests, NT administrators will be able to get specific network events, streamlining the process of monitoring and recovery. "It's like OpenView with a brain," Harrison quips.
The software is able to detect the smaller outages that are sometimes missed in a WAN-size monitoring tool. "A blackout, denial of service, is easy to detect. It's the slowdowns, the brownouts that are the insidious enemy of the network operating center (NOC)," says Jeremy Tracy, one of the founders of Entuity.
The network monitoring space needs to take its cue from telephony networks, where much is built in. That way people do not need to spend as much time on mundane tasks and can concentrate on fixing problems at hand, Almeida says. Eye of the Storm accomplishes this with its Early Warning Center and Report Center.
The Early Warning Center provides real-time alerting tools for use in the NOC. These include enhanced network visibility into layer-two switched networks; real-time alerting of faults and problems, with a business impact view, allowing the NOC to prioritize operations; cross-vendor support of hardware while monitoring for port, module, chassis, and VLAN problems; and distributed network management enabled with a Java-based console loadable from a central server or the desktop.
Report Center offers Web-based tools for tracking network assets from bandwidth to spare port allocations. It provides configurable reports; TopN-type reports; Web-based network reports covering inventory, fault, utilization, and traffic volume; and drill-down and historical data views.
Much of Eye of the Storm's sales come from the European market. Entuity will begin selling the software in North America soon.