Seagate revs network tools
Seagate announces new storage management and network event correlation technology for Windows NT and an enhanced desktop management suite.
Topping the slew of announcements is a new version of the company's NerveCenter event correlation and systems management tool for Windows NT being offered by its Network and Systems Management Group (NSMG). The product was previously only available on Unix platforms as NerveCenter Pro. NerveCenter includes technology that studies a network and allows an administrator to program alerts based on a series of interrelated problems on a network. That is now available across Windows NT servers and network devices.
NerveCenter NT can also pinpoint a series of events on a network and invoke a command from the Windows NT operating system to solve the problem. The product can be distributed across a network to remote sites and branch offices as well as correlate data and simple network management protocol (SNMP) events from networks, systems, and applications which minimizes diagnoses time for a manager.
The NT version of NerveCenter, due by the end of the year, also snaps into Hewlett-Packard's OpenView Network Node Manager and IBM's NetView for AIX enterprise consoles. Used as a standalone management product for local area networks, NerveCenter has the look and feel of Windows NT 4.0 and uses Microsoft's SQL database. NerveCenterNT pricing is dependent on the number of servers, consoles, and managed nodes on a network.
Seagate's Storage Management Group (SMG) will also be busy helping Microsoft integrate backup, media tools, and hierarchical storage management (HSM) capabilities into Windows NT 5.0, due by the end of next year. The company will work with Wang Laboratories and Highground Systems to deliver a backup utility that takes advantage of the Active Platform advances that will be delivered in NT 5.0.
Seagate's NSMG also announced an enhanced version of its Desktop Management Suite (DMS) this week. DMS 2.5 for Windows NT and Novell NetWare servers and desktops now includes the company's Backup Exec software on top of the suite's asset management, virus protection, remote control, and software distribution capabilities. Prices start at $1,495 for 50 nodes.
One analyst observed that Seagate may finally be putting the pieces of its various acquisitions together in a comprehensible framework for customers. These announcements follow the September introduction of an enterprise framework that will tie the disparate storage and network management tools together for enhanced interoperability.