Looking to provide small-to-medium working environments and networks with increased management capabilities, Cisco Systems on Monday unveiled the CiscoWorks Windows 5.0 management package for networks using Cisco hardware.
Shipping this month, CiscoWorks Windows 5.0 detects and resolves management problems before they reach critical-mass level, according to the company. If a device becomes inaccessible or shuts down, users can be notified by e-mail, pager, or desktop alarm with a status report of how long the device has been up or down.
Additionally, Cisco has incorporated Ipswitch's WhatsUp Gold to provide version 5.0 with graphical-view mapping, monitoring, and notification capabilities spanning a network, Cisco officials said.
By employing the real-time network status interface features of CiscoWorks 5.0, users can monitor network hardware such as workstations, servers, switchers, and printers from a single source application, company officials said.
The addition of a new version of CiscoView in CiscoWorks 5.0 provides "simple but sophisticated" graphical and color-coded monitoring and configuration of Cisco devices, according to Sylvia Clark, a product manager for Cisco.
"Instead of needing a lot of training in specific Cisco command devices, you actually can graphically point and click and get that information on the screen. So you don't need that router-guru training," Clark said.
Clark said WhatsUp Gold was chosen for integration with Version 5.0 because it enables users to take advantage of a single set of tools that do not require a large investment or extensive training to use.
CiscoWorks Windows 5.0 also improves management functionality through its other components: Threshold Manager, for threshold-setting and monitoring application for Remote-Monitoring-enabled Cisco devices; StackMaker, which combines views of multiple devices into a single stack for visual management; and Show Commands, which displays router information without requiring Cisco IOS commands.
Clark said that CiscoWorks Windows users who have purchased older versions of the product could choose to keep the older OEM component and integrate the new Cisco applications on top of that.
CiscoWorks Windows 5.0 will be available by next week for $1,995.
Cisco Systems Inc., in San Jose, Calif., is at www.cisco.com. Ipswitch Inc., in Lexington, Mass., is at www.ipswitch.com.
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