One of the old standbys that may not sound very exciting - but is beginning to look fresh, and new, and innovative - is asset management. But one area that’s often overlooked in this new excitement is telecommunications.

Because IT is increasingly dependent on truly global networks, this oversight is significant. IT organizations must often cobble together services from scores of different providers all over the globe, combining network design and service planning, with a nightmarish array of contracts to manage and monitor, with cost-accounting for penalties that often go unnoticed and unpaid - or else don’t get addressed for months. Throw into this mess the ongoing havoc that results from a dynamic marketplace - with mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, cost-savings initiatives, IP convergence, changing service portfolios and other factors - and you have a strong argument for either living in total denial, or else doing something truly meaningful.

Rivermine Software has decided to arm enterprise IT organizations to do just the latter, so that futile invoice-chasing and expensive and often inaccurate outsourced services can be replaced by something better.

I should state right from the start that Rivermine plays to large enterprise organizations with geographically dispersed reach and telecommunications bills in the many, many millions. An installation of its software could cost a million dollars, but may pay for itself several times over within a year through operational savings and noncompliance penalty payments.

Still, Rivermine is one of very few pioneers to take this requirement seriously, and it is uniquely focused on inventory vs. a less structured, invoice-centric approach - so I believe and hope that its capabilities will not only find a broader reach across large enterprises, but will also evolve toward use in smaller companies over then next five or so years.

Specifically, Rivermine offers:

* Service ordering and provisioning.
* Inventory management, with automated links between provisioned changes and a visualized circuit “topology.”
* Invoice processing and auditing, which invariably result in “cash recovery” and new credibility with a host of reluctant-to-pay noncompliant service providers.
* A milestones capability that helps to integrate telecommunications service lifecycles with operational and business workflows.
* Service provider scorecards and other features.
* Integration with BMC Remedy and HP OpenView, along with several ERP applications.

Denise Dubie is senior editor with Network World.