A New Way to Manage Cisco Routers

As Cisco finishes preparations for its 2008 Partner Summit in Hawaii, a Honolulu-based start-up is stepping forward with a new tool for configuring and managing Cisco routers.

Okay. I’m a channel guy and not a hard-core technologist like a lot of you readers out there. But I do know that time is money and efficiency is a major part of this company’s pitch.

Action Packed Networks (www.actionpacked.com) spun-off this year from Referentia Systems, a military R&D company working for the Department of Defense. The company was commissioned to design an easier way to manage networks, ranging from IT to satellites and radio. The end result, according to company president Nelson Kanemoto, had commercial implications as well.

The commercial product is called “LiveAction.” It’s sold in a series of modules, such as QoS, and Netflow. “We call it LiveAction because it’s an expert system for live networks,” said Kanemoto. “You can see live flows going between routers, live flows within routers, and you can configure complex QoS policies on the fly – which is a very scary thing to do when you’re using command lines.”

The net effect is to substitute command line interface with GUI-based visualizations and controls. The current version of the product is designed solely around Cisco infrastructure, but Kanemoto expects to eventually add the products of other vendors.

Although Action Packed has built a standard three-level channel program, the product itself is still in evaluation stage with GA expected in early May. Starting price is under 10K for management of five devices.

The targeted market is primarily mid-to-enterprise. But it’s difficult to say whether the best customer base will be found within traditional end customers, or among the channel partners who install, support, and maintain the networks. Kanemoto says they’re ready for either eventuality.

“We think this is an option to be sold both to and through the channel,” he said. “When selling it to the channel, it can help them with consulting services and managed services. We can improve their capabilities in designing, deploying and troubleshooting networks. For managed services, they can use this to help keep their customers’ networks up. And on the sell-thru side, it’s a very strong value proposition to the end users.”