Central Monitoring

Centralized management and monitoring software is an infrastructure investment for managed service providers. As the number of managed devices and monitored events grow, incremental costs include CPU demand, disk storage, and software licensing fees. We'd expect IPRVnet to factor the cost of building and staffing its NOC into managed service fees.

SonicWALL placed the heaviest emphasis on central management. "It is critically important for IPRVnet to have a set of robust management tools to enable scalable, central management and monitoring of CPE being used to deliver these services." They proposed the SonicWALL Global Management System (SGMS) for Windows or Solaris. SGMS "is capable of managing thousands of remote SonicWALLs, and can handle the activation and configuration of all standard features and optional upgrades."

Rebel.com's response satisfied our central management and monitoring requirements with third-party software. When asked for further detail, Rebel responded, "We have partnerships with several companies, but one [we] would suggest in this example is Linmor Technologies Nebula" for software delivery, configuration management, systems management, network monitoring. , And performance management. Thus reassured that requirements could be met, we look forward to hearing more during our lab evaluation.

RapidStream proposed its new Centralized Policy Management (CPM) System for Windows NT/2000 to speed policy definition and appliance deployment. "IPRVnet can use multiple CPM clients to access the centralized CPM server. From a central location, security policies can be deployed individually, [in] groups, or globally."

To manage up to 100 devices, IPRVnet could use NetScreen's Global Manager for Windows NT. For large enterprises and service providers, NetScreen recommends the NetScreen Global PRO ($49,995) for Solaris and Windows. A single PRO Data Collector ($4995) can gather data from 3000 devices. Global provides drag and drop configuration. In addition, "the ISP can allow role based access by customer staff to view and/or change the device configuration."

Requirements Checklist
Our RFP enumerated IPRVnet's objectives and requirements for these devices. These four responses claimed to satisfy all mandatory requirements and all but a few optional requirements. At the RFP stage, this is par for the course. Checklists are useful to assess overall product fit and eliminate major mismatches, but they are no substitute for thorough evaluation. We'll be examining support for many of these requirements during our test phase.

Each vendor also brought something extra to the table, beyond our specified requirements. Here are just a few of the items mentioned in these responses:

• SonicWALL gave us CPE options at the low and high end—for example, getting us into a 10-user small business without VPN under $500.
• Rebel.com supported additional on-premises services by operating as an Apache web server, proxy cache, mail server, file share, and print server.
• RapidStream offered room for growth with CPE to satisfy customers at T3 and OC3 rates. They also suggested CPE to protect IPRVnet's data centers—for example, by combining secure access with web server load balancing.
• NetScreen protected against common intrusions—for example, by responding to administrative pings while explicitly defeating ping flood DoS attacks. NetScreen's traffic shaping and tunnel monitoring features might increase productivity.

Interested readers may wish to consult the full text of each RFP to learn more about proposed solutions and how they meet and exceed IPRVnet's requirements.

ISP support programs and references
Our RFP asked each vendor to describe how it works with ISP resellers who deliver managed security services. We left this question open-ended, suggesting marketing, sales, revenue sharing, training, and technical support programs as possible topics. We also requested a list of active ISP partners and at least one ISP reference.

In fact, business relationship details are a critical consideration for any ISP entering a reseller agreement. A great product with no sales support and inadequate training will sit on the shelf and collect dust. Nitty gritty contract details are worked out at a later stage, behind closed doors. But we hoped that posing this question at the RFP stage would reveal vendor experience and attitude in working with ISPs.

NetScreen described these programs in admirable detail. They were the only vendor to quote annual fees for bundled hardware maintenance, software support, and 7x24 customer support. Our favorite feature: "For ISPs, NetScreen support is automatically 27/7/365 with qualified senior technicians on pager alert." However, NetScreen did not provide an ISP customer reference.

RapidStream also included a solid description of partner and technical support programs, and supplied a price list upon request. Partner programs promised tiered discounts, but left the obvious question unanswered, which is "What do I have to do to qualify?"

Rebel.com simply offered Bell Canada as a reference. When asked for more detail, Rebel.com was forthcoming about training and partner strategic alliance programs—privately. "We currently see this information as a competitive advantage and do not post publicly," they explained.

SonicWALL supplied a brief summary of partner programs and no customer reference. On request, SonicWALL sent a list of ISP/carrier press releases (for example, TDC Internet) and a URL for describing end user support. They also noted that their "typical response time [is] under an hour for registered resellers, via web form, email, or telephone."