Tivoli Manager for Network Connectivity Increases Availability of Business-Critical Applications

Business Wire, Nov 30, 1998

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 30, 1998--

New Product Significantly Reduces Time Required to Identify and

Resolve Network Problems

Tivoli Systems Inc. today announced the availability of Tivoli Manager for Network Connectivity, a new, easy-to-use product that allows customers to quickly locate and resolve network problems. Tivoli Manager for Network Connectivity automatically identifies the root cause of a network failure and forwards this information to the IT administrator directly through the Tivoli Enterprise Console. As a result, customers can more quickly diagnose and resolve network failures and increase availability of business-critical systems and technology.

Tivoli Manager for Network Connectivity, which can be deployed in production in less than one hour, collects real-time network topology information and alarm notifications from Tivoli NetView or HP OpenView Network Node Manager. It relies on the fact that every problem in a networked system generates a particular set of symptoms. Tivoli Manager for Network Connectivity combines these characteristic symptoms with topology information to create a table of unique, problem-identifying codes. The incoming alarm notifications are quickly compared with these codes, enabling fast root-cause determination. This automated analysis reduces the time normally required to identify the cause of network downtime from hours to minutes because it eliminates the need to manually search for the cause of a network failure.

"As companies increasingly rely on IT to run their businesses, it's more important than ever for them to reduce network downtime," said Richard L. Ptak, vice president and research director at D.H. Brown & Associates. "Research shows 90% of the time required to fix a network failure is spent trying to identify its root cause. Tools like Tivoli Manager for Network Connectivity, which automatically deduce the cause of a network problem, allow customers to correct problems before they negatively impact their business."

Unlike other products, Tivoli Manager for Network Connectivity provides customers with an out-of-the-box solution that automatically updates itself when network topology changes. No programming is required, which provides customers with a fast return on investment and saves hours of ongoing maintenance efforts.

Because it integrates with Tivoli Enterprise, Tivoli Manager for Network Connectivity also assists a customer's service desk personnel by allowing them to open a service ticket within Tivoli Service Desk. Customers can also use Tivoli Decision Support with the new product to provide better information about the reliability of various network technologies. This information can then be used to assist customers in planning and procurement decisions.

"The addition of real-time network analysis capabilities rounds out the integration of network and systems management provided by Tivoli Enterprise," said Martin Neath, executive vice president, Tivoli Systems. "Every minute of network downtime costs money because any interruption can affect business processes and mission-critical applications. Tivoli's Manager for Network Connectivity is like having the collective experience of many, many network administrators available, at any time, to find the root cause of a network problem."

Tivoli Manager for Network Connectivity takes advantage of technology patented by System Management ARTS, Inc. (SMARTS), a leading developer of real-time network analysis applications for self-healing networks.

Availability

Tivoli Manager for Network Connectivity 1.0 is currently available. Pricing is $25,000 per server. For more information, visit http://www.tivoli.com/o_products/html/netcon.html.> About Tivoli Systems

Tivoli Systems Inc. provides the industry's leading open, highly scalable and cross-platform management solutions that span networks, systems, applications and business-to-business e-commerce. Leading companies around the world use Tivoli software and compatible third-party products to reduce the cost and complexity of managing networks, systems, databases and applications. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Tivoli is an IBM Company. Tivoli distributes its products worldwide through a network of global sales offices, systems integrators, resellers and IBM sales channels. For more information, visit Tivoli's World Wide Web site at http://www.tivoli.com.

Tivoli, Tivoli Enterprise, Tivoli Enterprise Console, Tivoli Manager for Network Connectivity, Tivoli NetView, Tivoli Service Desk and Tivoli Decision Support are registered trademarks or trademarks of Tivoli Systems Inc., an IBM company. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.