Starting small As with ASPs, however, many management service providers are still just trying to earn their first customers. InteQ, for example, claims three early adopters for its service, and SilverBack says it will announce some customers when the company officially debuts at the end of the month. Enterprises may be reluctant to give up control of their networks, especially since networks are becoming critical to their success. But in many cases, the management service providers simply gather information and point to potential problems. We'll just keep an eye on it for customers.
Clients then can view their network performance data and alarms over a secure connection.
SilverBack also developed its own Web interface, but it works in conjunction with management software that resides at the customer site. That way, if the link between SilverBack and the site fails, the client can still use the management software on- site, says Skip MacAskill, vice president of marketing at SilverBack. The company's Web interface can receive information from disparate management applications and present it all together, MacAskill says. This insulates customers from the complexity of having multiple management applications, he says. Some of the management service providers use a particular management platform.