Spectrum installation made cheaper, easier

By Jeff Caruso
Network World, 10/19/98

Atlanta - In a move that addresses growing criticism of network management platforms, Cabletron this week will unveil plans to make its Spectrum platform less expensive to roll out and easier to use.

Spectrum and competing enterprise management platforms, such as Computer Associates' Unicenter and Hewlett-Packard's OpenView, have come under fire recently because they are expensive and complex.

Cabletron is responding to both issues with a new bundling of Spectrum software and related services that costs $75,000 for any size network and could save customers up to 20% over purchasing the software and training separately. For the flat fee, Cabletron will install its Spectrum enterprise management platform on a customer's network, identify potential problem spots in the network and teach network managers how to use the product effectively.

Cabletron is further addressing the complexity issue by developing a native Windows NT implementation of Spectrum for the next major release of that platform, which is due out in about nine months. Right now, the software runs on NT, but it requires DataFocus' Nutcracker tool to translate Unix code into NT instructions. Cabletron says a native implementation will be easier to use because it will have the Windows look and feel, with common ways of finding information. It will also be faster and smaller because it won't have the extra interpreter layer.

Of the major platforms, Spectrum already is the easiest to operate, says Kevin DeLange, founding principal of Lighthouse Communications, a Cranston, R.I., firm that manages networks for other companies. However, many companies that Lighthouse provides consulting for have difficulty understanding Spectrum, and DeLange thinks the new training package will help them.

Dave Passmore, president of consulting firm NetReference in Sterling, Va., agrees.

"These platforms represent tool kits, and it's up to the user to use the tools," he says. "This Cabletron offering sounds like exactly what people need."

Over a period of 10 days, Cabletron will install Spectrum, assess the customer's needs for network management, and spend time on the customer's site showing managers how to operate the software. In addition, the user will receive 12 days of training spread throughout the next year, including an advanced administration course and a customization course.

Other vendors have also taken steps along this route. Tivoli last month introduced standard best practices for installing and configuring Tivoli Enterprise, while Computer Associates has been beefing up its services organization since April.

Cabletron will extend its new management software model to more specialized areas, beginning with a similar package addressing Year 2000 issues. That offering is due out within the next 45 days.

Spectrum expansion

The company this week also will expand its specialized Spectrum product set with Connection Services Manager and ATM Services Manager 2.0.

Connection Services Manager handles authentication and connection policies for dial access and virtual private networks. The software, which can serve as a RADIUS server to authenticate users, employs an SQL Server database and runs on Windows NT and 95.

ATM Services Manager lets enterprises and service providers provision permanent virtual circuits from a central location. Version 2.0 allows administrators to specify the path cells take through a network, provides scheduled billing and produces graphs of network activity.

Next year, the software will use Private Network-to-Network Interface (PNNI) with multiple levels in a hierarchy, says Eric Stinson, product manager at Cabletron. PNNI groups ATM switches to make it easier to route calls across very large networks. While Version 2.0 will run on Solaris 2.6, Cabletron is working on a Windows NT edition due out in December. ATM Services Manager 2.0 ships this month, starting at $10,625 for 25 licenses.

Senior Editor Jim Duffy contributed to this article.