PageMart's underlying management infrastructure uses a mixture of proprietary systems and SNMP data generated by Tivoli. While Wilkinson thinks NetView is a useful and comprehensive application, he thinks its user interface is too complex for staff to understand without extensive training. He prefers to access everything via Formula because its simplicity makes his team more productive. He isn't alone. MOS claims that in only a few months, it has already sold Formula to 50 Fortune 2000 companies.
Analysts are also excited about the product.
It tells customers about their business, not just technical details. The popularity of a program that is essentially just a user interface says something about the complexity of existing systems. But MOS emphasizes that it is not aiming to encroach on network management vendors' territory. The latter operates at the Application layer, which is where Formula sits. In the future, he says MOS plans to go even higher, extending Formula into a complete supply chain management tool.