Customers can install RemoteWare on one or several servers at a central location and distribute RemoteWare clients at the remote site. They exchange data via WAN or public lines through dial-up connections. RemoteWare helps conserve bandwidth by running on low-speed lines and transporting only the most recent and relevant pieces of a file. Once again, though management recognizes the importance of remote management, it also understands it can't outrank some of its more pending responsibilities. Although expanding the remote management capabilities, deployin g new products and technologies or hiring a service provider could strengthen network management capabilities, they could also increase the workload, require substantial planning and revenue and possibly consume too much bandwidth.
Most management systems implement only a part or subset of network management.
When the management itself becomes burdensome rather than a tool to isolate and resolve problems, the management system becomes a problem. Leading outsourcers like MCI Systemhouse and network management specialist INS handle key network management services for their customers. Still, remote management services constitute only a small percentage of these c ompanies' overall services. The service for remote management in and of itself is not reaping a huge revenue. International Internet service provider CompuServe Inc. prefers to let the experts measure traffic passing though its remote networks so it can concentrate on optimizing and expanding its services, says network architect Pete Hohlbein, who is responsible for maintaining CompuServe's Internet backbone.