One to watch: SilverBack remote branch office technology

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: DENNIS DROGSETH ON NETWORK/SYSTEMS
MANAGEMENT
10/05/05
Today's focus: One to watch: SilverBack remote branch office
technology

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Why SilverBack's SilverStreak could be right for your
environment
* Links related to Network/Systems Management
* Featured reader resource
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Sybase

It sounds so simple: if you collect enough business information,
you'll glean valuable insights that can drive both revenue
growth and competitive advantage. Along the way, however,
companies are discovering that managing the explosive growth of
online data can prove a formidable challenge. Here's how to
assess your data management style, and maximize your
opportunities to turn online data into business opportunity.
Click here for more on taming the data explosion.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=116842
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Today's focus: One to watch: SilverBack remote branch office
technology

By Dennis Drogseth

From time to time, it's a good idea to look at technologies that
may not be available to enterprise IT today, but could be soon.
One such technology is currently focused at resellers, service
providers and system integrators but it could be easily adapted
to enterprise needs. The technology can be adopted to manage
remote branch offices and comes from SilverBack Technologies.

SilverBack's mix of fault and performance, resource and asset,
and security capabilities is complemented by a policy-based
provisioning capability (which I wrote about a year ago
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm8097> ) that could be a boon
for remote branch office management.

Since SilverBack's core market is service providers targeting
small-and-midsize businesses, it has learned to scale process
and complexity downward to meet the economics of that
marketplace. It has also enabled SilverBack to focus its
attention on all the "eases" - ease of deployment,
administration and use, which the broader enterprise IT
management marketplace has still to address.

The SilverStreak Management Tunnel is a case in point. It
provides access between a central management provider and their
remote managed locations based on three objectives: scalability,
cost effectiveness and security. SilverStreak requires a modest,
client-side software footprint for remote polling and data
collection. All communications with the host management system
are initiated from the client and then transmitted via SSL
encryption. The software clients (needed on a per site, not a
per device basis) can enable outbound HTTPS (port 443) traffic.
Central management can terminate sessions once they have taken
care of an alert or problem and free up the tunnel for other
use.

This enables easy set up and secure transmissions driven on an
as-needed basis from client-side monitoring software. In its
current release, SilverStreak does require some manual
intervention from the central management provider to acknowledge
and administrate those next-step sessions to actually remediate
problems on a remote device. But even this fairly minimal
requirement should be addressed in future releases.

The SilverStreak model is reflective of a "clear and present"
requirement to enable remote management to large numbers of
locations in a scalable manner. It should become a "building
block to watch" as not just service providers, but enterprise IT
with vast numbers of remote branch offices, as well as many
retail operations, need more cost-effective and facile
adjustments to standard management practices.

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. Nortel faces uphill battle
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm8098>
2. How to solve Windows system crashes in minutes
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm7617>
3. Cisco pushes new security software
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm8099>
4. Tech Update: High-speed TCP eases WAN congestion
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm8185>
5. Somebody's got to pick up the 'Net's tab
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm8186>

_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Dennis Drogseth

Dennis Drogseth is a vice president with Enterprise Management
Associates <http://www.enterprisemanagement.com/>, a leading
analyst, market research and IT consulting firm based in
Boulder, Colorado, focusing exclusively on all aspects of
enterprise management. Dennis has extensive experience in
service level management and network management platforms and
products. He is actively researching trends in management
software and changing IT roles internationally. His 22-plus
years of experience in high-tech includes positions at IBM and
Cabletron. He is widely quoted in the press and is a speaker at
many industry events. He can be reached via e-mail
<mailto:drogseth@enterprisemanagement.com>.
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Sybase

It sounds so simple: if you collect enough business information,
you'll glean valuable insights that can drive both revenue
growth and competitive advantage. Along the way, however,
companies are discovering that managing the explosive growth of
online data can prove a formidable challenge. Here's how to
assess your data management style, and maximize your
opportunities to turn online data into business opportunity.
Click here for more on taming the data explosion.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=116841
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Archive of the Network/Systems Management newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/nsm/index.html

Management Research Center:
http://www.networkworld.com/topics/management.html
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter sponsored by Nortel
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to discuss the hottest topics in enterprise mobility. Broadcast
live to your desktop on Nov. 8, 2005. Register today!
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=116911
_______________________________________________________________
FEATURED READER RESOURCE

IT PROS SHARE THEIR TALES OF MAKING ITIL WORK

Running an enterprise network is challenging. IT organizational
change can be even more so if managers don't balance efforts
proportionally across people, process and technology.
Implementing best practices frameworks such as Information
Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) can help, but they
introduce their own set of challenges. Click here for more:

<http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/092205-itil.html>
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