HP tackles Web management

     Anaheim, Calif.
     Hewlett-Packard Co. last week announced a product for managing 
corporate Web servers, the first part of a plan to bring Java and other 
Internet technologies into the OpenView fold.
     The company's Internet Service Manager, introduced at the OpenView 
Forum user conference here, will let customers track the performance of 
Windows NT- and Unix-based Web servers as well as let them manage firewalls 
and audit HTML links.
     HP also used its conference to emphasize its plans for OpenView to 
monitor service levels across corporate networks.
     Users said the new product and HP's service-level plans are a good 
start, but they want the whole enchilada. They want a Java-based front-end 
to OpenView as soon as possible; they also want specifics on how HP plans 
to integrate its newly acquired Prolin service management tools with 
OpenView, especially in light of users' significant investments in other 
service-oriented products.
     'We want the full Java interface for Web access,' said Paul Edmunds, 
senior network analyst at Duke Power Co. in Charlotte, N.C., and president 
of the OpenView Forum. HP promised a Java interface, but did not give a 
specific ship date. 
     A Web graphical user interface (GUI) written in Java will allow users 
to access OpenView from any system - laptop, PC or workstation - that can 
run a Web browser.
     It will also provide users with a dynamic, extensible environment from 
which to manage their networks and systems.
     HP is shipping a Web interface with OpenView Network Node Manager 5.0 
and IT/ Operations 4.0, but it is written to the Common Gateway Interface. 
CGI's hypertext tabular interface lacks the graphical device representation 
and real-time interaction of Java, features sorely needed by users as they 
scale their networks. 
     'We're more interested in the next phase of HP's Web-based management 
strategy,' said Sandy Potter, network manager at Air Products and 
Chemicals, Inc. in Allentown, Pa. 
     HP will integrate Java and other Internet technologies into OpenView 
in phases, said Olivier Helleboid, general manager of HP's Network and 
Systems Management division. He did not say when the phases would be 
completed, but HP would like all OpenView products to have a Java-based 
user interface by mid-1998, said Bill Bonin, director of OpenView for 
Internet Computing.
     The first phase was completed last week when HP announced Internet 
Service Manager, a new IT/Operations software product. The new product's 
link-auditing feature was written in Java, said Martin Fink, research and 
development program manager for HP's Network and Systems Management 
division. Internet Service Manager is shipping now and costs $795.
     Some users, though, hope HP does not make OpenView's Web-based GUI too 
rich. HP demonstrated some Java-based prototype GUIs at last week's 
conference that some users thought might be too elegant. 'It looks good in 
demos, but it also has some overengineering to it,' said Paul Seliga, 
principal engineer at Network Equipment Technologies, Inc.
     Users also are eager to see how HP implements its recently acquired 
Prolin IT Service Manager software with OpenView. HP acquired the 
Amsterdam-based Prolin in April to put some teeth behind its service 
management initiative.
     IT Service Manager is a suite of software applications for managing IT 
infrastructure and services. It includes help desk, change and 
configuration, and service-level management packages.
     But the Prolin suite duplicates much of the functionality of Remedy 
Corp.'s Action Request System, a popular service management tool that has 
been used by OpenView shops for years.
     'We're still struggling' with HP's service management initiative, 
said Deborah Follett, chief information officer at AT&T Solutions in 
Lincroft, N.J. 'It forces you still to have a lot of intermediary systems 
for broad service visibility.'
     HP's Helleboid was vague on the company's plans for Prolin/ OpenView 
integration. He did say that products such as OpenView Network Node Manager 
and IT/Operations would serve as data collectors for Prolin applications 
under the service management initiative. 
     HP out to manage desktops
     n an effort to establish a foothold in desktop management, 
Hewlett-Packard Co. this fall will ship a set of software tools for 
managing PCs.
     Developed and deployed inside HP, PC Common Operating Environment (PC 
COE) software has helped HP save $200 million annually over the past five 
years by automating software distribution and configuration among its 
120,000 desktop systems. PC COE is designed to decrease the overall cost of 
ownership for PCs by easing software licensing, distribution, installation 
and inventory tracking.
     Administration of a single desktop costs about $400 per month, HP 
said, quoting a Gartner Group, Inc. cost-of-ownership survey. HP claims PC 
COE will reduce this amount to $170 per desktop.
     PC COE can reduce monthlong, companywide software deployments to days 
and cut software installations from one hour to six minutes, HP claimed. 
Internal experience with PC COE has given HP enough confidence to 
commercialize the product, said Olivier Helleboid, general manager of HP's 
Network and Systems Management division.
     Until now, HP has been barely visible in the desktop management arena.
     While it has made occasional contributions to desktop management 
technology through participation in the Desktop Management Task Force, it 
has virtually conceeded the market to rival IBM/Tivoli.
     PC COE runs on Unix and Windows NT clients and servers and on mobile 
computers. In addition to distributing and installing software, PC COE 
tracks hardware and software inventory and monitors enterprisewide software 
licenses.
     PC COE will be a separately orderable product under the OpenView 
management family umbrella. Pricing has not been determined yet.