Trend, Ganymede Partner for Reporting

FRAMINGHAM (03/17/2000) - Two systems management vendors have collaborated on software that will correlate and report on data from multiple sources to ease monitoring of application and network performance.

Trend Application Performance ReportPack from DeskTalk Systems Inc. in Torrance, Calif., will extend integration of the Trend performance analysis and reporting tool with Pegasus network and performance monitoring software from Ganymede Software Inc. in Research Triangle Park, N.C., said spokesmen for the two companies.

Partly because of a history of integration between the two products, albeit only for some network monitoring, "there's a good level of integration," said Dennis Drogseth, an analyst at Enterprise Management Associates in Boulder, Colo.

Here's how the ReportPack works: Desktop agents passively monitor application performance. They then report to the Pegasus server, as do agents residing on network devices. The Pegasus server can also perform active monitoring by initiating a transaction between two desktops and measuring the performance.

The Pegasus server sends the data to the Trend server, which aggregates the data in a database, along with data Trend collects from other applications, management systems and devices.

Trend correlates all the data and presents it in reports. Some of the reports are designed to tell business managers how well their critical applications are performing. Others offer network managers detailed, drill-down data on network device performance.

ReportPack "does a nice job in situations requiring problem solving rather than just getting a picture of your system," Drogseth said.

Trend aggregates the data in a form easily imported by other applications. A Sybase Inc. database license is included with Trend 3.5, although Trend can also use Microsoft Corp.'s SQL. A systems manager can add functions via other software tools that also can use the data, Drogseth said.

For example, Netuitive 5.0 can use the Trend data to do real-time forecasting of network performance, he said. Every five to 15 minutes, the network monitoring software from Netuitive Inc. in Alpharetta, Ga., examines fresh network data and measures that against 32 variables and reports about which, if any, devices are likely to have problems within the next 24 hours.

Trend doesn't yet offer network simulation, but Opnet Modeler research and development simulation software from Opnet Technologies Inc. in Washington can use the data to create virtual prototypes.

Pegasus 2.2, available by mid- April, will cost $25,000 for the basic package.

The Trend DataPipe, which lets Pegasus send data to the Trend server, is available as a free upgrade to Pegasus maintenance contract holders. Trend 3.5 server, available now, costs $30,000 for the basic package.

You will need both the Pegasus 2.2 and Trend 3.5 server products to run the new Trend Application Performance ReportPack, which will be available by June for $17,500.