HP Extends Reach and Scaleability of Network-Monitoring Solutions for FDDI, Token Ring and Ethernet; New Solution Provides Economical End-to-end Network Monitoring

Business Wire, Dec 11, 1995

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 11, 1995-- Hewlett-Packard Company today announces significant additions to its HP NetMetrix internetwork monitoring and analysis family of applications, including fiber distributed data interface (FDDI) support; key Token Ring enhancements; and a cost-effective distributed probe, called the HP NetMetrix probe, which provides end-to-end monitoring of Ethernet segments.

"Information technology managers demand tools that help deliver service of consistent quality to end users, regardless of topology or technology," said Andy Belcher, operations manager of HP's NetMetrix Operation. "As companies struggle to implement critical new network-based applications -- whether they be Ethernet, Token Ring, FDDI, switching, or some other application -- improving network performance while increasing availability and reliability becomes even more important."

HP NETMETRIX ADDS FDDI SUPPORT

HP's support for high-speed FDDI expands network management across the enterprise, from LAN segments to the backbone. The HP FDDI LanProbe family is a series of ring monitors for FDDI networks managed by simple network management protocol (SNMP). HP FDDI LanProbes monitor 36 network-performance characteristics simultaneously, including extensions specific to monitoring FDDI segments, such as station management (SMT) packet statistics.

The FDDI LanProbe works with the HP NetMetrix application suite for UNIX(R) and Windows and leverages Groups 3-9 of the Remote Monitoring (RMON) Management Information Base (MIB) specification (RFC 1757).

The HP FDDI LanProbe family provides a media interface connector (MIC) interface for connectivity to multimode optical fiber 62.5/125, supporting either single-attached-station (SAS) or dual-attached-station (DAS) configurations. The FDDI LanProbe can be ordered with an interface for twisted pair, physical media dependent (TP-PMD), over shielded twisted pair (STP via an DB-9 connector) or unshielded twisted pair (UTP via an RJ-45 connector). The probes also are available with a range of 8MB to 64MB of RAM, enabling users to address the demands of high-capacity backbone FDDI analysis.

ADDRESSING SCALEABILITY AND MONITORING OF LARGE TOKEN RING NETWORKS

HP's enhancements to its Token Ring network-monitoring solution include powerful fault and performance capabilities, as well as incorporation of HP's scaleable midlevel manager architecture.

The HP midlevel manager architecture reduces the volume of information flooding the network infrastructure and management console from every segment, improving network, cost and staff efficiency. It performs three functions: data collection, data analysis and information presentation. HP's LanProbes collect the data; the midlevel manager then analyzes and reduces extended RMON information and other performance and planning data before forwarding it to the NetMetrix applications, which then present this information in an easy-to-understand format.

The HP Internetwork Monitor -- an application that provides end-to-end monitoring of internetworks by identifying routing and client/server relationships for Token Ring environments -- includes HP's traffic-profile modeler. The modeler allows users to modify actual traffic patterns and node placement and see the effects of these modifications in real time, prior to implementing costly physical changes to their network.

The enhanced HP NetMetrix Load Monitor application for Token Ring adds protocol distribution and conversation statistics and a "zoom" capability that allows users to correlate network events quickly in a single time slice, scroll back to look at historical data or drill down for more information.

The new HP NetMetrix Internetwork Response Manager for Token Ring provides distributed availability and response testing, measures latency across wide area network links and allows testing of switched networks.

A SCALEABLE DISTRIBUTED-NETWORK-MONITORING ALTERNATIVE

Designed to give IT managers the data they need at a price they can afford, the HP NetMetrix probe provides users with a cost-effective method of improving segment visibility. It can be placed on a segment by itself, or supplement an interconnect device with embedded RMON agents to obtain end-to-end management and seven-layer analysis. As a stand-alone device, the HP NetMetrix probe provides all the benefits of the NetMetrix Load Monitor, Internetwork Monitor and Reporter applications. Combining the HP NetMetrix probe with an embedded RMON agent gives users packet analysis, segment-level reporting and alarms.

"A lot of users are disappointed by the limited capabilities they have found so far in their embedded RMON probes," said Tim Wilson, senior consultant at Decisys Inc., a Sterling, Va.-based consulting firm. "For those users, RMON extensions -- such as the new HP NetMetrix products -- will be the only way to handle functions such as performance measurement, accounting and security."

U.S. PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

The HP FDDI LanProbe is available in three models, ranging in price from $9,995 to $19,995, depending on memory and connectivity options.