MainControl powers partners

In a network and systems management software jungle populated by the likes of Tivoli Systems and Computer Associates, a relative newcomer may not survive without partnerships.

With that in mind, MainControl, a Vienna, Virginia-based company founded in 1994, today announced integration of its recently announced MC/Empower enterprise systems management software suite with Intel's LANDesk Workgroup Manager and Hewlett-Packard's OpenView Network Node Manager.

The upshot is that the MC/Empower modules that offer management of mainframe and client-server environments now extend to the desktop with the LANDesk integration and to the entire network as well, through integration with HP's Network Node Manager.

MC/Empower uses a layered, object-oriented architecture consisting of five modules that perform specific systems management tasks: automated inventory of assets (Enterprise Explorer), electronic software distribution (SoftwareJet), bulk data transfer management (DataJet), asset management (ValueWise), and help desk problem management (HelpCenter).

By the end of the year, the company will introduce a new module called Chronicle that tracks all changes made to a particular system during the life of that system and stores them in a relational database, according to Zack Margolis, vice president of marketing at MainControl.

Margolis said MainControl has found a market by offering software products that manage a system through the entire life of that system, taking into account upgrades and component replacements. A typical site that might gain an advantage with MC/Empower modules would be an enterprise with 3,000 or more desktops and a back-end mainframe.