InfoVista Improves its Network Management Software Suite

VistaMart 1.1, VistaFinder 1.0, and VistaViews 2.2 promise quicker, easier, and more expansive network monitoring and reporting.

by Wayne Kawamoto [October 23, 2000]

InfoVista announced the availability of three products in its network reporting and monitoring solution suite: VistaMart 1.1, VistaFinder 1.0, and VistaViews 2.2. According to the company, these three products will enable InfoVista customers to leverage valuable network information (VistaMart), automatically recognize network device changes and additions (VistaFinder), and provide rapid deployment of new, ready to use reports (VistaViews).

VistaMart is a global data repository that consolidates data from multiple InfoVista Servers, forming a scalable distributed system. It is adapted for clients who need to gather information from geographically dispersed sites. VistaMart should provide enterprise-wide centralized reporting of networks, systems, and applications. VistaMart data should also integrate with a variety of third-party tools such as decision support or data mining tools, and receive data from sources other than the InfoVista Server, such as call center management software. VistaMart 1.1 is comprised of a set of components, which not only collect and process data from InfoVista servers, but also store this data in an SQL Database so that the information may be integrated into third-party applications.

VistaFinder 1.0 is a Windows client/server application that provides InfoVista users with an automatic selective discovery of common network devices including routers, switches, hubs, WAN circuits, RMON probes, and frame relay PVCs. The application employs a polling technology that should automatically organize devices into groups based on network addresses and device types. By removing the often time-consuming effort of manually configuring new devices, VistaFinder may provide an easier and quicker path for users to monitor, and track and report the performance of new devices using the InfoVista platform.

VistaViews 2.2 is a family of more than 40 pre-configured reports. Certain VistaViews are embedded in the InfoVista Server and others are available separately or as bundles. These reports, a number of which are optimized for equipment from industry-leading vendors such as Cisco, Nortel, 3Com, and Lucent, promise to provide a global overview of overall network performance to enable easy and proactive network management and effective network growth planning. "InfoVista, the most flexible, scalable, and open real-time end-to-end service level management platform on the market today, brings ISP's a high degree of visibility to the network infrastructure," said Paul I. Frazier, vice president, Marketing for InfoVista. "This translates into ISP's delivering the highest quality network products and services to their customers on a global basis."

"In the past, service level management software solutions were seen as something nice to have, and later as a competitive differentiator, but today are seen as a mission critical component of the IT infrastructure," added Frazier. QoS (quality of service) of both network access and value added applications is how customers will evaluate the relative value of services delivered from their ISP. If the quality of services does not meet the requirements and expectations of customers from their current ISP, they will switch to carriers that can deliver services at higher levels of quality."

Pricing and availability
VistaMart 1.1, VistaFinder 1.0, and VistaViews 2.2 are available today.

Pricing is as follows:

• VistaMart 1.1 — $99,995
• VistaFinder 1.0 — Included as part of the InfoVista solutions package
• VistaViews 2.2 — all are $9,995 each except VistaView for Business Applications with is $12,995

—End