Net/Systems Management /

Interop follow-up: XML - full speed ahead

By Barb Goldworm
Network World on Network/Systems Management, 10/06/99

While NetWorld+Interop seemed a bit quiet this fall, with seemingly fewer major announcements, one of the quiet-but-significant issues was the gaining acceptance of XML. An informal survey of several dozen vendors stated that they have current or near-term plans for XML, with numerous vendors showing products that already use it.

One of the great benefits of XML is the ease of integration of products. A good example of the power of XML in this area comes from Cisco's announcement at N+I in Service Level Management. By providing XML interfaces via an SDK, Cisco has allowed partner products to integrate more closely into CiscoWorks 2000. Extending the benefits of the Cisco Management Connection, the XML interface allows other products to access Cisco information (Layers 3 and 4) and other information (Layers 1,2,5,6 and 7) and present it to the user under one seamlessly integrated display.

The XML integration also allows the partner's product to pass control information and data to CiscoWorks 2000. One other nice aspect to all this is that the interface allows CiscoWorks 2000 to perform actions to a group (routers, for example), thus providing a one-to-many capability for the partner's product. And XML standardizes the definitions between products.

The tangible results of this were being shown on the N+I floor with an integrated product from Inverse Networks. With one screen, the product showed graphical representations of all the data obtained from both vendor products, providing the ability to view overall service-level management information. Since Inverse is being acquired by Visual Networks (also a Cisco XML partner), this will be an interesting one to watch.

Cisco has shown its leadership in XML by announcing XML partnerships with 15 vendors, including HP, Concord, Manage.Com, InfoVista, ProactiveNet and Network Associates. Manage.Com has also been an early leader in XML with manageXML, the company's extension to XML for e-business management.
Cisco is also very active in the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), with Cisco's Jim Turner now holding the position of chairman. XML plays a key role in the DMTF's Web-based Enterprise Management (WBEM) initiative. WBEM views XML as the transport/encoding mechanism on top of CIM (Common Information Model). Not coincidentally, CiscoWorks 2000 was one of the first products in the industry to support CIM and WBEM. Interestingly, while many vendors are still struggling to understand CIM and the priority of its implementation over other features, the XML bandwagon is moving full speed ahead.
This is good news for vendors and users alike. XML is relatively easy to use. Industry experience with it is growing, it's Web oriented, and it is quickly becoming a de facto standard. Proprietary APIs have always been a necessary evil. Maybe XML will make them unnecessary, and move the industry closer to vendor products that really do integrate to provide working solutions to broader problems.