HP To Enhance OpenView Line At Upcoming Show

Among the products slated for introduction at the HP Software Forum 2003 here is Network Node Manager (NNM) 7.0, which adds improved root-cause analysis features, said Bill Emmett, solutions marketing manager at HP.

With the upgrade, HP is also splitting the NNM line into Starter and Advanced versions. Starter versions provide network management capabilities for midsize businesses, while Advanced versions add integrated management of Layer 2 switched networks and diagnostics,more complex capabilities that were available previously as separate offerings, Emmett said.

With two NNM options, solution providers can better tailor network management solutions to fit customer needs and can reach smaller customers with OpenView than was previously possible, said Gary Hazard, vice president at Atrion, a solution provider in Hillsborough, N.J.

"We can drive that target down into the SMB space, and then next year we can build onto it with more products," Hazard said.

While customers aren't yet asking for Adaptive Enterprise by name, it is the direction in which they want to move, said Bob Flaherty, vice president of service strategy and business development at InteQ, a consulting firm and MSP in Bedford, Mass. "The only way you can really [meet increasing performance and reliability requirements] is with a highly automated monitoring system that gets you as close to that root cause as possible and hopefully automates fixes as well," Flaherty said.

Other new or upgraded OpenView products include Operations for Windows 7.2,the latest version of HP's systems and applications management tool,which adds support for Windows 2003, and Business Impact Analysis, which enables customers to model business-process workflow and the infrastructure that supports it.

Pricing for the new products, scheduled for general availability within the next 90 days, wasn't finalized by press time, but Emmett said he expects NNM Starter to start at $4,000 to $5,000 and NNM Advanced to start at between $8,000 and $10,000.