Partners Applaud Upgrade From Response Networks

Response Networks

Version 3.0 of Response Center delves into systems management and passive monitoring, features partners have been waiting for for some time, said Theo Forbath, principal with NerveWire, a Newton, Mass.-based systems integrator and professional services firm specializing in voice and data services.

"We have been asking for some more in-depth features for a while now, with passive monitoring a huge win," said Forbath. "We don't have to police a device, but can tell customers proactively if there is a problem. This is a huge timesaver."

The passive monitoring feature sets thresholds for CPU utilization and notifies the partner if it reaches a certain level or if a Web site test is over a preset time frame, for example.

The number of transaction the software monitors also rose from 45 to 70 in such areas as e-mail, network diagnostics, trace-route analyses and HTTP. Performance metrics can be pulled from Windows applications and systems as a root cause analyses aid, Response Networks said.

"Customers are able to set performance thresholds at a very granular level of detail, and this is before we add AperServ's technology," said Phil Hollows, vice president of product marketing for Response Networks, based here.

Last week Response Networks acquired AperServ's service-level management technology. AperServ's software drills down to finite layers such as the time it takes a customer to log on through the time it takes to process a credit card.

AperServ also tracks the parameters of service-level agreements and automatically bills a solution provider if the parameters are violated.

Hollows is hoping Response Networks' service-level management capabilities along with AperServ's features will appeal to solution providers interested in monitoring their in-house application and network performance, as well as that of their customers.

"A lot of the tools out their tell you about [application/network availability, but they don't tell you about quality of service or performance levels," said Forbath. "These are areas [Response Networks understands and is doing a good job addressing."