HP Announces New OpenView for Windows Software Suite for Comprehensive PC-LAN Management; HP OpenView Professional Suite Provides Management for Network Devices, Desktops and Servers; Traffic Monitoring and Analysis

Business Wire, Sept 9, 1996

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 9, 1996-- Hewlett-Packard Company today announced a comprehensive software suite that offers customers in small to midsized networked environments the ability to manage virtually all elements of a PC LAN. The new product, HP OpenView Professional suite software, builds on the functionality of HP's market-leading HP OpenView Workgroup Node Manager by integrating it with HP server-, PC- and printer-device-management software and desktop-management software from McAfee and Symantec. In all, there are 12 elements in the HP OpenView Professional suite.

HP OpenView Professional suite is an open, standards-based solution that helps network administrators control and proactively manage their heterogeneous PC LANs. With a single installation process, common graphical interface and out-of-the-box integration, HP's new suite helps companies reduce the cost of maintaining their information-technology (IT) network through the use of automated inventory and software metering and faster problem recognition and diagnosis. Its ease of use places OpenView Professional suite among the easiest management solutions to deploy and operate.

"We're now putting a comprehensive management tool within reach of network administrators," said Olivier Helleboid, general manager, HP OpenView Program. "OpenView Professional suite will put network managers ahead of the game by giving them a flexible and cost-effective management tool for PC LANs."

The 12 HP OpenView Professional suite components are HP OpenView Workgroup Node Manager; HP AdvanceStack Assistant; HP Expose from Symantec; HP JetAdmin; HP NetServer Assistant; HP NetMetrix/Win; HP PowerWise Assistant; HP TopTOOLS; Norton Administrator for Networks and Norton pcANYWHERE from Symantec; Notify! Connect from ExMachina; and Saber LAN Workstation from McAfee.

"We feel we're the first company that can honestly say we have the one tool PC LAN managers must have to manage their networks and networked hardware," said Helleboid. "Professional suite can manage more elements of a PC LAN than any other product. More important, the OpenView environment makes it simple for customers to add third-party plug-in solutions when additional functionality is needed."

The heart of Professional suite is HP OpenView Workgroup Node Manager. This flagship product in the OpenView for Windows family provides autodiscovery, mapping, polling and alarm/trap status. Workgroup Node Manager is designed for small to midsized heterogeneous networked environments running Microsoft(R) Windows 95 and Windows NT, and it supports both IP and IPX network protocols.

Workgroup Node Manager also is able to discover and monitor Web-based-managed devices. By discovering HTTP Web servers and invoking automatic browser launching, Workgroup Node Manager now enables the network administrator to manage devices through the Web as well as through traditional SNMP. To support this capability, the suite will ship with an industry-leading browser.

Leading vendors have developed more than 100 plug-in solutions that are fully compatible with the OpenView Professional suite.

"We're excited to be part of Professional suite because we feel our contributions in the areas of inventory and desktop management, as well as software metering and distribution are a perfect fit with HP's established leadership in network and device management," said Ted Schlein, Symantec's vice president of networking and client/server technology. "Norton Administrator, pcANYWHERE and HP Expose help make the OpenView Professional suite a slam dunk. If you need to manage a heterogeneous networked environment, start here."

"McAfee's Saber LAN Workstation complements HP Professional suite by providing a management solution for heterogeneous Netware and NT environments," said Rick Kreysar, vice president of operations at McAfee. "Saber LAN Workstation's open architecture provides menuing, metering, inventory and software distribution through de facto standards such as TCP/IP, SNMP, Xbase, OLE and Explorer. Saber LAN Workstation helps make Professional suite an ease-of-use and functionality leader."

In addition to Workgroup Node Manager, the other elements of the OpenView Professional suite include the following:

-- HP AdvanceStack Assistant -- an SNMP-based application

for advanced, networkwide traffic monitoring and device

management of HP AdvanceStack 100VG and 10Base-T hubs,

switches and bridges. For simple or complex networks,

AdvanceStack Assistant provides point-and-click

management;

-- HP Expose from Symantec -- proactively manages servers

on a LAN. It provides monitoring, control and alerts

from the OpenView Workgroup Node Manager console to

manage NT, NetWare and NOS environments;

-- HP JetAdmin -- delivers easy remote installation,

configuration and management of network-connected HP

printers and plotters. The OpenView Professional suite

will provide the initial implementation of

printer-status alerts for the LaserJet 5Si printer;