Visionael focuses on physical network hardware, offering a combination of autodiscovery, achieved through its NetSuite acquisition, and provisioning. Visionael takes inventory management in the direction of change, configuration and network design. Its depth and rigor have appealed predominantly to service providers, whose business is built around a clear knowledge of their physical networked investments. I would like to close by touching on Peregrine's acquisition in August of Loran Technologies for its InfraTools Network Discovery software. This is a very different kind of spin, but one quite relevant to inventory management, as well as more traditional finance, help desk and asset considerations.
Inventory management is an enabler for change management and fault isolation.
Loran isn't the only root-cause analysis vendor with a potentially strong product for inventory control, but it is one of the few, along with Riversoft and Aprisma, that have recognized it. This insight will play out similarly in helping application rollouts to become more efficient, help desk professionals to gain confidence in addressing user situations, NOCs to manage more efficiently, and security professionals to get a clearer, more current read on where things are. Related links Dennis Drogseth is a director of Enterprise Management Associates and has extensive experience in network management platforms and products. He is currently researching new trends in management software and changing IT roles, as well as international and cultural issues related to management software marketing and IT implementations. Feedback Tell us your thoughts on this article or the issues raised in it.