LEXINGTON, MASS. (03/29/2000) - New network discovery and reporting features in Ipswitch Inc.'s network monitoring software are designed to make mapping and analyzing IP networks easier.
Like previous editions of WhatsUp Gold, Release 5.0 monitors servers and IP devices such as switches and routers, alerting IS staff of performance problems, including the failure to meet service-level agreements.
The software, which runs on several versions of Windows, is optimized to monitor networks of up to 200 devices.
Among the new features is SmartScan, which grabs data from router tables and other sources to create a hierarchical map of the enterprise network. It can also present an overview of subnetwork borders.
Previously, WhatsUp Gold assembled one picture of a network's IP addresses, and it was up to IS staff to manually delineate how the devices in the subnetwork were connected.
With Version 5.0, companies can assign to each subnetwork its own window on the WhatsUp management console. This simplifies drilling down into any given subnetwork to look at its individual devices.
To make it simpler to analyze data about net-work performance, WhatsUp Gold 5.0 also comes with plug-in software for generating charts. Previously, all reporting was done in a text format, making the performance statistics somewhat difficult to interpret and share with other departments.
Among the companies impressed with the new graphic reporting capabilities is Central Maine Power in Augusta, which has been beta-testing WhatsUp Gold 5.0 for the past six months. Phil Mourneault, a network specialist at the utility, says he is now able to reach into a database easily and generate a chart on any device's performance over a given period.
Central Maine Power is testing the software to monitor a network with 1,500 end users at 16 major sites running customer service and work management applications off a mainframe and server farm.
Ipswitch's software runs on a Windows NT or Windows 2000 server and is accessed via a management console or Web browser-enabled graphical interface. It uses pings to poll the internal network or to go out over a WAN to remote sites.
WhatsUp Gold 5.0 costs $695 and is available now. The product will compete against offerings from Concord Communications and others.
Ipswitch: www.ipswitch.com.