Network managers trying to determine how well their applications and networks are performing together will get some help from three vendors' upcoming products.
Apptitude will ship Visualizer probe, which tracks who is using corporate applications and how well the applications are performing. Envive has expanded its software for monitoring SAP R/3, and Concord Communications says it will license application management agent technology from FirstSense Software.
Application management is a good way to determine how much network capacity is needed, says Pat Rauchet, director of telecommunications at Sony Electronics, which is an early user of Apptitude's product. With Visualizer, the company saw how much traffic its critical applications were creating across some of its WAN links and found it didn't need as much WAN capacity as it had, Rauchet says.
Apptitude, formerly known as Technically Elite, is releasing Visualizer this month.Companies can deploy the probe on critical links to identify application traffic moving at up to 100M bit/ sec; determine which users are sending the most traffic; and view the traffic's impact on the net.
Apptitude, in San Jose, also offers a Web interface to display the data collected by the probes. In future releases, the company plans to enable Visualizer to measure the levels of service applications are receiving. Pricing starts at $27,000 for two Visualizer probes and the Web interface.
Envive, of Mountain View, Calif., recently announced Collaborative Service Level Suite, which unifies the company's different software products for watching SAP R/3 applications. The suite includes Inspector 2.0, which monitors application events; Service Level Manager 2.0, which compares performance against service-level agreements; and Stopwatch Pro 2.2, which measures response time. The suite is shipping now, with prices starting at $37,500.
Concord, in Marlborough, Mass., will license agent technology from FirstSense in Burlington, Mass. FirstSense's agent runs on a client and measures how quickly the client receives responses over a network. Concord is developing an application, due in the second half of this year, which will use the agent to measure end-to-end application delays. The application will be used in Concord's Network Health reporting software.
RELATED LINKS
Getting applications up to speed
Kevin Tolly on why application vendors need to rebuild their apps to take advantage of high-speed networks. Network World, 9/7/98.
AppScout Applications Flow Monitor
A look at AppScout's approach to application management. Network World Fusion Focus on Network and Systems Management, 4/22/98.
Mentioned vendors:
Apptitude
Envive
First Sense
FirstSense Enterprise attacks apps management
Network World Fusion Focus on Systems and Network Management, 10/19/98.
Performance management moves toward convergence
The convergence of applications, systems and network performance management has been promised and pursued for some time. Network World, 2/15/99.
Directories in the limelight
A look at how directories could play a central role in managing networks and applications. Network World, 3/16/98.
Network World Fusion Focus on Systems and Network Management
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