It will also be easier to pull summary data out of multiple tools via the CIM interface and publish them via the Web. Adopting a browser-based approach to management tool and database access should offer a number of benefits. Remote access via the Internet will be a welcome change for level three gurus, the most senior personnel who get called in to the operations center late at night to fix problems. Distribution and updating of management tools is easier when there are no client-side components to worry about. With browser and Web protocols such as HTML and XML being used as integration points rather than management platforms, management tools can be easily spread out across multiple servers, instead of having to coexist with a central management platform on one server.
External providers can actually supply some tools entirely as services.
Companies such as NetOps and Candle are pioneering this application service provider approach to network management. The real benefits of Web-based management are realized when you begin to link external resources to your management intranet, creating a management extranet. Navigation pages for each segment of your support team can be populated with links to just the right set of vendor-support Web sites that fit the technologies each segment deals with. You can try out Web-based customer network management interfaces for your key frame relay and managed network services. A big step up in applying Web technologies is to create new interfaces for communicating with your customers - meaning end users.