Micromuse Unveils Netcool/OMNIbus For Voice Networks

Business Wire, June 6, 2000

Business/Technology Editors

SUPERCOMM 2000

Booth # 3859

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 6, 2000

Customized Solution Furthers Micromuse's Commitment to Proactively

Monitor Carrier-Class Switch Environments

Micromuse Inc. (Nasdaq: MUSE), the leading provider of fault and service-level management software, today announced the availability of Netcool/OMNIbus for Voice Networks(TM), a realtime fault monitoring solution designed specifically for carrier-class network environments. The announcement underscores Micromuse's commitment to evolving Netcool/OMNIbus, its flagship application, to meet the needs of the dynamic voice market with the introduction of new management and administrative components and a new suite of sophisticated Netcool software managers for large-scale voice switches.

"Today's service providers need a fault management solution that is flexible enough to handle both voice and new network technologies, providing immediate awareness of any network problem that might affect voice service," said Corey Ferengul, Program Director at the Meta Group. "A centralized, carrier-class solution is required to perform proactive fault and service-level management, making voice networks easier to manage while enabling providers to detect and respond quickly to faults in voice switches and other voice related devices."

"Our commitment to the customer demands that we constantly examine Nextlink's telecommunications networks to meet current technology standards, competitive pressures, and the convergence of voice and data services," said Jerrid Hamann, Senior Manager, Network Management Systems, at Nextlink, a leading Integrated Communications Provider (ICP). "Micromuse's newest Netcool solution helps us manage our growing and complex next-generation service platforms. Micromuse is helping us keep pace with rapidly evolving communications technologies and allowing Nextlink to provide the most advanced solutions while enabling us to deliver quality service."

Netcool/OMNIbus for Voice Networks does not replace or disturb existing management systems. The application resides on top of the network to monitor voice devices without hindering the performance of the network or of existing management applications. The packaged offering supplements the carrier-class performance of the Netcool ObjectServer(TM), an in-memory database, with utilities designed specifically for large, voice-oriented networks.

Netcool/OMNIbus for Voice Networks, available now on CD-ROM, extends Micromuse's considerable expertise in the voice market with three fundamental elements:

-- Netcool/Telco Service Managers(TM) (Netcool/TSMs(TM)). Micromuse's suite of Netcool/Telco Service Managers capture alarms reliably and accurately from carrier-grade voice switches, including Nortel DMS, Alcatel DSC Dex, Marconi System X and Ericsson AXE10, as well as from all voice devices that communicate with the TL-1 protocol. Netcool/TSMs maintain persistent, intelligent connections to minimize or eliminate lost alarms. Using features such as automatic reconnect, resynchronization, heartbeating (which sends a user-defined command at regular intervals to ensure logical layer connectivity), and raw-stream capture (to query the device for alarms that were missed due to network outage or device hardware failure), Netcool/TSMs provide a unique method of capturing and communicating alarms from large-scale voice equipment.

-- Suite of Netcool Voice Probes. Netcool/OMNIbus for Voice Networks includes a broad set of Netcool software Probes that capture alarms from advanced voice equipment from leading vendors including Alcatel, Ericsson, Lucent, Marconi, Newbridge, Nortel, and Tellabs. Several of these Netcool Probes are multiheaded, which means that they are designed to support multiple connections simultaneously to simplify fault management in large, distributed voice networks.

-- Netcool Central Configuration(TM) Utility. This centralized, Web-based utility includes components that allow network administrators to configure remote components of a Netcool implementation - including Netcool Probes, Managers, and Gateways - from a single, centralized server. The Netcool Central Configuration utility significantly reduces time, cost and labor associated with installing, configuring and synchronizing Netcool components across multiple sites.

Micromuse developed Netcool/OMNIbus for Voice Networks to provide a realtime fault management solution that matches the needs of world-class carriers. It is based on Micromuse's flagship Netcool/OMNIbus application, which delivers high-speed resilient alarm capture and consolidation through the Netcool ObjectServer, its realtime, memory-resident data engine. The same performance and resilience standards extend to Netcool/Telco Service Managers, which are designed to maximize a network operator's ability to capture and resolve alarms from carrier-class switches and TL-1 devices.

Each Netcool/TSM application contains a highly specialized code that accounts for the individual attributes of the corresponding switch or device, creating a tight integration from the device to the Netcool ObjectServer. In addition, Multiheaded Voice Probes share several attributes of Netcool/TSMs, including their ability to attempt to reconnect automatically when any single device connection is impaired.