WASHINGTON (01/25/2000) - A Motorola Inc. DSL product and a spate of new tools to better manage network and VOIP (voice-over-IP) Web site enhancements were among the many offerings vendors shoveled out today at a snowy ComNet 2000 conference here.

Despite the surprise storm that hit the show, organizers said early today that they still expected 50,000 networking professionals at the event.

But traffic was light, and many put attendance at keynote speeches and technical tutorials at well under 50 percent of expected capacity.

Nevertheless, several vendors forged ahead with announcements, including Motorola, which unleashed Vanguard Instant Access 2130, a new DSL smart router for smaller businesses.

Several other vendors such as RiverSoft Inc., Lightspeed Systems, and NetGain LLC hit ComNet with new network monitoring and management tools.

RiverSoft announced i3philOSophy, a network management operating system.

Lightspeed debuted a set of IP network management tools dubbed IP Magic Technology, tailored for use on the Windows NT/2000 platform. The Lightspeed suite monitors traffic at the gateway, server, and desktop, allowing the user to inject load balancing, firewall security, and NAT routing capability.

Meanwhile, NetGain unleashed its Visual Service Level Monitoring (VSLAM) software, a network monitoring tool that lets enterprise IT managers gauge efficiency and enforce service level agreements.

Concord Communications made its play to e-businesses and ASPs (application service providers). Concord unveiled Service Health, its first offering since the company announced its acquisition of FirstSense Software earlier this month.

Service Health is billed as a tool for IT managers to see a "total view" of their network. The software is designed to display analysis on customer-transaction times and to generate the return on investment of technology investments.

Finally, for e-commerce vendors looking for an easy way to add VOIP functionality to their Web sites and call centers, e-Net and its ZeroPlus.com subsidiary debuted three new applications at ComNet.

E-Net and ZeroPlus.com, which run a free consumer-based service that assigns individuals with Internet phone numbers, are building out their ZPCommerce line of products.

The three applications being readied for ComNet are aimed at both e-businesses and enterprise call centers struggling to keep up with customer service changes brought on by the Internet.

The company bills its ZP Commerce solution as a way for e-businesses to pay just 2.9 cents per minute per inbound customer service call.

New applications on display at ComNet include ZPDial, which packs product-specific information on a Web icon into a VOIP call. ZPDial launches a call, and then checks to see if the user is a member of ZeroPlus.com database of assigned numbers.

If the caller is not a member, ZP Dial triggers ZPLite, the second new application.

ZPLite is an applet that brings the call into an e-commerce call center. It is a scaled back version of the company's flagship ZeroPlus.com software, according to Rob Veschi, president and CEO of both companies.

Finally, there is ZP Softagent, a capability that routes a VOIP call to a call center agent, capturing information about both caller and products in question.

Concord Communications Inc. in Marlboro, Massachusetts, is at http://www.concord.com/. E-Net Inc. and ZeroPlus.com, in Germantown, Maryland, are at http://www.zeroplus.com/. Lightspeed Systems, in Bakersfield, California, is at http://www.lightspeedsystems.com/. Motorola Inc., in Schaumburg, Illinois, is at http://www.motorola.com/. NetGain LLC, in New York, is at http://www.netgain.com/. RiverSoft Inc., in San Francisco, is at http://www.riversoft.com/.