Eye of the Storm and the generation gap

This week's newsletter is about management software vendor Entuity, whose products are a perfect example of the newest generation of management tools.

I was reminded of Entuity during a recent online presentation, when I was asked whether I think there is a generation gap between older, platform-based network management software and newer, more innovative products.

The question was intriguingly vague. Did it mean a generation gap among users or among vendors? I didn't know, so I tried to answer the question from both perspectives.

Among users, the answer is that if there is a generation gap, it's only a perceived gap. That is, just because you're over 30 - or 35 or 50 - it doesn't mean that new trends in management software, processes and strategies are beyond you. Nor does it necessarily mean that just because you're under 30 you "get it." Strategy requires patience and perspective, and all good management deployments are, by definition, strategic. I suppose this is pretty obvious, but it doesn't always seem to be appreciated in real-world organizations. Prejudice all too often seems to win out over recognition of individual potential.

As for vendors, some builders of platforms and frameworks are starting to wake up and redesign their products to be more automated. Good examples of this include Computer Associates, with its Neugent technology, and Hewlett-Packard and RiverSoft, which were profiled here last week. But generally, there is in fact a clear gap between old and new types of management software - between products developed during the "framework era" and those developed in the era we're in now.

Rather than getting caught up in an abstract, philosophical approach to management, "next-generation" management software is typically more focused on real-world decision-making. This decision-making can be oriented towards either operations or business processes, and some of the better products address both. Framework vendors can get there piece by piece, if they're willing to sacrifice some existing products.

My online questioner mentioned several examples of "next-generation software," including Micromuse and Entuity. The better known of the two, Micromuse, has significantly enhanced its operational service-level management with acquisitions of Calvin Alexander and Net Opps for root-cause analysis, physical network topology and advanced problem resolution. Micromuse also announced a partnership with Entuity at the most recent Networld+Interop. That partnership deserves its own newsletter(coming soon).

Entuity was created in 1997 by two former Goldman Sachs IT executives. They wanted to build a product that reflected actual challenges and processes they experienced in IT. Their product, Eye of the Storm, focuses on IT infrastructure, with strength in dealing with Layer 2 and virtual LAN issues, including Spanning Tree performance issues. It also watches for network "brownouts" and monitors availability. It is designed to filter out "noise" data to simplify its polling. A core feature for Eye of the Storm is its Generalized Index of Degradation, which is an indicator of performance degradation:

• 0-30: normal operating range.
• 30-85: moderate performance degradation.
• 85-100: possibility of a hard failure.

Eye of the Storm's bulletin board application displays events that need attention and shows whether they've been dealt with. It manages inventories of network devices and monitors performance and availability. Eye of the Storm also has clear, contextual screens designed specifically for either business or operational decision-makers.

So, why does Eye of the Storm qualify as next-generation? It offers focused and comparatively facile deployment. It's clearly mapped to real-world problem solving with high levels of automation. It adjusts to changing networks. And Entuity has been creative in how it leverages its core technology, while refraining from becoming a bolt-on harness for everybody's management application. It isn't everything to everyone - but from a network management perspective, it's a good place to start.