Conference azur::mcc

1860.0. "Management of Ethernet @ Physical Level" by ARRODS::GILLJ (John, DTN 847-5849) Wed Nov 27 1991 13:22

    
    
Hi,

I have a customer who has some pretty specific requirements around the 
management of the physical elements of their network.  Over a year ago they 
experienced a problem on their Ethernet Extended LAN.  The problem was 
caused by a combination of:

1. A H4000 being connected to close to a barrel connector (it was approx. 
   4 feet away).
2. A faulty H4000.
3. Grease and dirt in a barrel connector.

They solved their problem through educated guessing.  They now want to 
acquire a product that will help them analyse physical aspects of the 
network.

They have been looking at HPs LANProbe product and find that it meets many 
of their requirements.  They described the functionality that the LANProbe 
would yield.  Much of the functionality is similar to that delivered by 
LTM in terms of traffic analysis.  However,  LANProbe also gives them the 
facility to 'pin-point' devices causing problems on the network.  For 
example, if there were a faulty H4000 on the network the LANProbe could alert
them to this and could also locate the faulty device in relation to its 
distance from a POD on the network.  They feel that this functionality is 
key, and will be a deciding factor in the network management vendor they 
choose.

On top of this HP have given them a great demonstration and have been 
positioning themselves as the leading supplier of standards based network 
management equipment. 

I mentioned the fact that TE Concepts were an EMA Strategic Vendor and were 
developing an AM to Network Professor.  This met with a negative reaction.  
When the customer had their original problem they installed Network 
Professor but it did not help them.  It did not trace the faulty devices,
and collected an excessive amount of data.

I have the following questions:

1.  At what stage will the TE Concepts AM for Network Professor be 
    available to customers.

2.  Will the AM give the customer the capability of tracing faulty 
    equipment on the LAN, and locating it in terms of the distance from 
    a POD.

3.  Will the AM give the customer the capability of analysing LAN traffic
    in real-time (graphs), and to carry out historical analysis (graphical).

4.  I suspect the customer did not configure the tool correctly when they 
    originally installed it.  Will the AM require large amounts of disk 
    space to store historical data?  Will the amount, and type of 
    historical data that is stored be user configurable?

5.  Should I be directing these questions directly to TE Concepts?  If so,
    can someone let me have a contact name and number?


If we can convince the customer to select EMA it will mean significant 
network management business in other sections of this customer's business.


Any help appreciated,

Thanks,

John

    

    
    Hi  John,
    
    The contact for Network Professor in Europe is:
    
    		William Connor 
    		Mentec Computer
    		Systems Limited (Dublin)
    
    Phone 35312858444
    
    regards peter.

	John ,

	You should also get in touch with Mike PAtrick in Reading 
	who is in contact in UK with a company (Sintrom) who is providing
	this Physical LAN mgt capabilities .

	Regards ,

	MaRc