Interop 2007 Edition, Part 1

Network/Systems Management This newsletter is sponsored by Hitachi The First True Enterprise-Class Blade Server Go inside Hitachi's BladeSymphony 1000, which combines virtualization technology, integrated management capabilities, and reliable, scalable system resources to consolidate infrastructure, optimize workloads and run mission-critical apps. Click here to download this exclusive whitepaper. Network World's Network/Systems Management Newsletter, 05/21/07 Interop 2007 Edition, Part 1 By Denise Dubie Can you feel it? It's that time of year again. It's Interop Las Vegas 2007, baby. It's the time of year when conference attendees don their comfortable shoes, carry an empty bag, load up on free stuff at vendor booths and stick around until cocktail hour for the free plasma TV giveaway. For industry journalists such as myself, it's the time of year when the phone rings relentlessly and e-mail inboxes become overwhelmed with meeting pitches, promising to share with me the latest and greatest new products on display on the expo floor. In this newsletter and the next one out later this week I highlight a few Interop attractions you may want to check out yourselves. Executive Guide: Perfecting Application Performance Management Your business is only as good as your network, and your network is only as good as your application performance. Network World's Executive Guide shares tips, case studies and expert advice on how you can take advantage of new technologies to stay ahead of performance problems. Click here to download BlueCat Networks: The DNS, DHCP and IP address management (IPAM) vendor is always a crowd pleaser at Interop, decking out its booth with fun techie gadgets and attractive assistants. For instance, at last year's show the company equipped its booth with an FA-18 fighter jet flight simulator system for booth visitors to test. And in 2005, BlueCat executives donned Nascar outfits and set up in front of their booth a genuine Nascar car equipped with simulated driving systems so not only could attendees check out the vehicle up close and personal, but they could also sit in the driver's seat and run a simulated race. I am not sure what fun the vendor has in store for this year's Interop booth #1125, but BlueCat did share its plans to unveil new products at the show. The company will debut new appliances for smaller companies that Branko Miskov, director of product management at BlueCat, says will provide consistent, automated IP address capabilities to customers most likely relying on spreadsheets today. "We have this idea about providing IPAM for everyone, and to date, there haven't been a lot of products that could address smaller or midsize customers and be available at a reasonable price," he explains. For small and midsize companies, BlueCat introduce the Proteus 2150 IPAM Appliance that features a Web-based management interface and can manage up to 10 Adonis 750 DNS/DHCP Appliances, also new to BlueCat's portfolio. The Adonis 750 appliance would be distributed at data center and other locations and the Proteus 2150 acts as the centralized management console. Both appliances are available now, with the Proteus 2150 priced at about $40,000 and the Adonis 750 costs about $7,000. BlueCat will also introduce its Adonis DNS/DHCP XMB appliance for remote and branch sites. The appliance costs less than $2,000 and provides support for more than 4,000 DNS queries per second and 75 DHCP leases per second. ETelemetry: This vendor started out singing the praises of IP address management, like BlueCat, but has since added a twist. ETelemetry says its Locate technology packaged in appliances dubbed Metron can link specific end users to IP addresses, MAC addresses and more. The vendor also packages it technology for bandwidth management, and now at Interop in booth 2340, the vendor will be showing how its Metron EBA (Enterprise Behavior Analysis) product will provide business and IT executives with a map of who talks to whom in the organization and via what communications method. For instance, the technology can determine who uses IM to contact certain people and why taps e-mail systems more. Dubbed “organizational network analysis,” the technology in Metron EBA can help managers reengineer business processes or spot anomalous employee behavior that may represent a threat to the company, eTelemetry executives say. "Metron EBA can show how people communicate within an organization and if they are doing so effectively and efficiently," says Ermis Sfakiyanudis, eTelemetry president and CEO. Editor's note: Network relics -- What's in your closet? Even in the network industry, old doesn't necessarily mean obsolete. Network World has become aware that it's not uncommon for enterprise IT shops to keep older systems or outdated gear in house to support homegrown or legacy applications still relevant and even critical to today's business. Do you have any relics? If yes, please send a picture and explanation as to why you keep the old-timer in place after XX years and how it serves your company still. If a picture isn't possible, just share your story and I'll track a photo down at the Computer History Museum. If you want to participate, let me know.   What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

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Contact the author: Senior Editor Denise Dubie covers the technologies, products and services that address network, systems, application and IT service management for Network World. E-mail Denise. This newsletter is sponsored by Hitachi The First True Enterprise-Class Blade Server Go inside Hitachi's BladeSymphony 1000, which combines virtualization technology, integrated management capabilities, and reliable, scalable system resources to consolidate infrastructure, optimize workloads and run mission-critical apps. Click here to download this exclusive whitepaper. ARCHIVE Archive of the Network/Systems Management Newsletter. BONUS FEATURE IT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today. International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007