Some things never change. Networks aren’t in that group.
Arguably, that’s understandable because the network is the heart of the connected enterprise.
So it comes as no surprise that SolarWinds Inc., which makes IT management software, will release four updates to its portfolio over the next two months.
“It’s a lot to roll out, but it’s fairly typical ,” said Sanjay Castelino, vice president o product management. “We do a lot of product updates.”
Arguably the most likely to get the attention of network managers in organizations using telephony solutions from Cisco Systems Inc. is SolarWinds VoIP & Network Quality Manger.
That’s the new name for IP SLA Manager, a WAN overseer that does what Castelino calls synthetic tests between two network points on a number of protocols to ensure the network is running properly.
The new version of the software includes the ability to capture call detail records from Cisco Call Manager, which records information from VoIP calls such as jitter and packet loss. Data from it and IP SLA Manager can be combined in a SQL Server database for analysis to correlate network and voice problems and help track down the root cause of difficulties.
Unlike the current version of IP SLA Manger, which is a plug in to SolarWinds’ Network Performance Manager, VoIP & Network Quality Manager is sold as a standalone product.
Pricing is based on the number of routers or switches that do the network testing, plus the number of IP phones on the network. For example, for US$1,495 covers five network devices and 300 IP phones.
The other updated product that may see interest is User Device Tracker, which, as its name suggests, helps mangers find devices and their users.
The new version will help find autonomous and controller-based access points.
Castelino said the application will be appreciated in organizations with BYOD policies.
Finally, an update to Network Configuration Manager, which locks down change and configuration control, will now scale to tens of thousands of devices. It also will support switches from Alaxala Networks Corp.
