Welcome to the Network Zone…Let’s Talk About Network Management Needs

Thanks for coming by to read this blog. I look forward to hearing your views and comments on this post and future ones. I’ll keep the posts fun and helpful.

I read a great article on SearchNetworking by Shamus McGillicuddy. It discussed the state of the market for network management products and more importantly, some of the top issues network management staff are facing. Here are some of my take aways from reading it...

There is a clear need for network management that lets engineers move away from spreadsheets, manual processes and tools that simply require too much overhead to use. The proof is in the IDC research that shows the market is growing in these tough times, and it looks like more specialty vendors are becoming both competitors and complementary players in the space.

The article references the network management space as still being part of the Wild West. The growth in new products and modules is staggering. One vendor actually boasts their core product has over 45 utilities (I can only handle about 5-6 tools then its overload).

Often so many tools are being used that it creates a new problem...

"Too many tools can lead to a lack of integration," said Steven Guthrie, director of product marketing at CA. "The success of low-end niche tools in the enterprise tells us that these point products come in for good reasons. But then they outlive their usefulness, and they end up stalling mean-time-to-repair. That data source [in the niche tool] may not sync up with other data sources you may have."

As network engineers, we’re bombarded with new information all the time and simply don't want or have the time to keep learning and finding the right application when a crisis occurs. A central point of management is necessary. Shamus was right on when he wrote...

"But, clearly, IT pros would love to consolidate the number of management tools they use on a daily basis, if for no other reason than to save money and make their operations more efficient."

Tools that have a single database, can consolidate multiple sources of information and have a low maintenance overhead will ultimately win out. In the long run they make your life simpler.

To read the full article on SearchNetworking.com http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid7_gci1355151,00.html