Stories about: Network Physics

Network performance-management vendor Fluke Networks this week expanded its product portfolio when it acquired for an undisclosed sum the intellectual property of VoIP management player Viola Networks.

Enterprise Management Associates is back again after a year of absence, this time on a monthly basis. We've really missed your dialog and comments, and hopefully we've been missed as well. As before, this column will focus on network management trends as they fit into the bigger IT management landscape - focusing from time to time on application performance, or SLM versus BSM, or new approaches to asset management, or trends like CMDB adoption as they may affect the NOC.

Fluke Networks this week unveiled the fruit of two acquisitions and quite a bit of integration work when it shared details around its unified performance management software, which the vendor says will help customers better manage application performance while tapping knowledge of the underlying network.

Network management vendor Opnet announced this week it has acquired Network Physics for US$10 million in a deal that will give Opnet the tools it needs to manage end-to-end application performance.

VoIP vendors say they deliver scalability and security. InteropLabs (iLabs) testing mostly proved them right in multivendor settings. But testing also revealed some implementation gotchas in both of those areas, and pinpointed a few missing pieces when it comes to key exchange for securing VoIP traffic.

Network General this week announced three new products the company says will help network managers better track NetFlow data, provide insight into virtual environments and monitor application performance across distributed networks down to the user device.

Like veteran poker players, network executives have long depended on a mix of skill, instincts and just plain luck to predict application performance. With business success hanging in the balance, however, today's stakes are too high for a gamble on application optimization.

To optimize performance, net execs must manage an application throughout its life cycle, from predeployment to the user desktop. The following technologies can help.

As any e-mail administrator will tell you, managing the content of the constant flood of incoming and outgoing messages is only half the battle. The sheer volume of e-mail, coupled with the increasing size of files that users want to send, also puts a staggering load on the network and servers. At the same time, end users are resisting attempts to limit the size of their in-boxes, demanding the right to stash gigabytes of mail and attachments on the server. IT clearly needs a strategy to manage the e-mail flood.

Network execs may need up to three layers of tools sets to ensure great application performance.

Kim Jahnz doesn't like to brag, but she says that over the years she has mastered managing network and systems performance and availability at Aurora Health Care in Milwaukee. However, Jahnz knows she faces a bigger challenge in 2006.