Best Network Management Tools

HARDWARE NETWORK ANALYZERS
Network Instruments won two awards for network management products, the first one for its Gigabit Observer Suite System, which offers a solution for wire-speed, full-duplex gigabit analysis. The Gigabit Observer Suite System includes gigabit and 10/100 interfaces for complete, wire-speed, full-duplex packet capture, network statistics, trending, real-time expert, Web-based reporting, and an SNMP management system for gigabit connections.

This luggable portable analyzer includes an integrated copy of the Observer Suite, Network Instruments' 64-bit PCI wire-speed, full-duplex gigabit adapter, all required cabling, and either an optical (SX or LX) or copper splitter. The luggable is a dual processor-based system with a 15-inch active matrix display, 512MB RAM, hard drive and CD, keyboard and mouse, and Windows 2000 Professional.

SOFTWARE PROTOCOL ANALYZERS
Network Instruments' Observer Suite won the company's second Readers' Choice Award in the category Best Software Protocol Analyzers. Observer Suite is a cost-effective, software-only, Windows-based tool that includes complete protocol analysis, SNMP device management, RMON console and probe, and Web-based reporting.

Observer Suite is a network monitor and protocol analyzer for Ethernet, wireless 802.11b and 802.11a, Token Ring, and FDDI. Observer Suite provides metrics, capture/decode, and trending for both shared and switched network environments. With its included probe running on a PC on a remote segment of any LAN, WAN, or VLAN, Observer Suite can monitor not only the local segment/switch, but also the remote segment.

NETWORK LAYOUT AND DESIGN TOOLS
LANware's Network Monitoring Suite (NMS) captured the Readers' Choice Award for Best Network Layout and Design Tools. Lanware's NMS consists of three tightly integrated products designed to help you effectively monitor the behavior of your Windows NT and TCP/IP based network.

At the heart of the Lanware NMS is the NMS console. By focusing on the needs of all network professionals responsible for the smooth operation and reliable availability of their network's resources to end users, NMS has been developed as the comprehensive solution for the detection, diagnosis, notification, and intelligent management of all Windows NT system errors, network faults, and performance degradations.

With the NMS as part of your network management arsenal you are aware of any and all faults occurring on your network before your end-users are affected or have a chance to pick up the phone and call you. Even better, you can prevent many of those faults from occurring by detecting dangerous or problematic conditions that you know will only lead to bigger problems.

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