Best Products: Network management finalists

Back to the Network Management winner

In our IP address management test, Lucent’s VitalQIP hung on as king of the jungle. We named VitalQIP a finalist for its fast performance, scalability and feature-rich options for dealing with IP addresses. The Lucent software “is an enterprise-ready tool to organize and manage virtually any set of IP addresses, no matter how large or complex,” Lab Alliance’s Nance said.

In the same test, MetaInfo earned the final nod for its Meta IP Enterprise system. The system offers excellent security and reporting features, as well as flexible IP address management, Nance said. In particular, he liked how the Meta IP DNS service could closely integrate with Microsoft Active Directory – in our tests, we were able to use the Windows Active Directory wizard to easily link a domain controller to Meta IP.

Microsoft gets a finalist nod for its Virtual Server 2005 offering, which lets you run multiple instances of Windows on the same machine, based on a test conducted by Lab Alliance member Tom Henderson. Microsoft’s foray into server consolidation, via technology it picked up with a 2003 purchase of Connectix, is proving worthwhile, Henderson said. Along with the Virtual Server Migration Kit, Virtual Server 2005 “provides a way to gracefully move and consolidate older Windows NT and 2000 Server applications onto newer (and ostensibly higher-capacity) hardware.”

TechSmith earned a finalist spot for its Morea software, which improves the Web page usability testing process for companies. Lab Alliance member Thomas Powell found that Morea can “help collect some valuable data concerning how easily users can – or can’t – navigate your site.” The software leverages its experience with screen recording and capturing methods found in TechSmith’s popular SnagIt and Camtasia products.

Coradiant’s TrueSight 1100 appliance impressed us with its ability to actively monitor Web site traffic, giving Web managers a heads-up on the true health and performance of a Web site before users complain. TrueSight 1100 “acts as a smart microscope for Web administrators who want an in-depth look at their site’s network traffic for incident resolution,” Powell said.

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