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AlterPoint 'Open Network Initiative' to Advance Network Management Software; Key Step is Aligning With Open Management Consortium to Forward Open Standards for Network Management

Posted on: Monday, 11 September 2006, 12:00 CDT

AlterPoint, the leading provider of intelligent network change and configuration management (NCCM) solutions, announced today the Open Network Initiative, a strategy to bridge the gap between the network infrastructure and the network services that are crucial for business. The Open Network Initiative strives to elevate network management organizations from the minutiae of scripts and device-level configuration parameters and allow them to focus on managing entire networks and the services they deliver.

"We view AlterPoint's strategy to embrace open standards to deliver a more flexible network management environment as an extremely positive step, as well as being an important competitive differentiator," said Dennis Drogseth, vice president of Enterprise Management Associates in Portsmouth, N.H. "From a customer's perspective, it makes perfect sense to tie AlterPoint's proven network change and configuration technology together with other open source management solutions that are regularly in use to extend functionality."

A key first step for the initiative is joining the Open Management Consortium to contribute to the group's charter of developing open standards and platforms for network and systems management. As a member of the Open Management Consortium, AlterPoint contributions will support the establishment of open standards for network configuration management, specifically in the areas of heterogeneous device mediation and administration tools. In addition, the contributions will facilitate integration between AlterPoint technology and complementary open source offerings.

"The members of the Consortium are very excited to see AlterPoint bring their network management experience and resources to our efforts," said William Hurley, Chairman, Open Management Consortium and CTO of founding member Qlusters. "AlterPoint is positioned to make a valuable contribution toward the Consortium's advocacy, collaboration and interoperability goals."

"We are taking bold steps to provide industry leadership at a time when network infrastructures are over-stressed with complexity and business criticality," said Scott Harmon, chief executive officer for AlterPoint. "There has never been a greater need for open standards to enable end-to-end management and give customers the flexibility and choice they demand. Announcing our affiliation with the Open Management Consortium is just the first of several announcements we will be making over the coming months designed to transform network software and align it to the needs of Internet Era networks."

Leverages Open Technologies for Network Tools and Data Reporting

AlterPoint is the only network management vendor to combine a model-based architecture, an Eclipse-based open tools environment and an extensible device mediation layer. Together, these technologies provide customers of its DeviceAuthority software with the deep understanding of the network that allows them to build more intelligent automation and manage the complex relationships between networks elements and the services they provide. The fact that its commercial product is based from the ground-up on open and extensible foundation technologies places AlterPoint in a unique position to drive open community initiatives for next-generation network management.

In addition to its Open Management Consortium membership, the Open Network Initiative will also align with existing open projects for both integrated tools environments and data reporting. Future Open Network Initiative milestones will detail open source efforts targeting Eclipse workspace projects and open business intelligence portal extensions.

The ultimate goals of the Open Management Initiative are threefold:

1. To stimulate communities of network experts to innovate new management software faster and more effectively than any single vendor is capable,

2. To spur the evolution of network software that moves beyond 'element-level' views and enables IT staffs to manage their network assets from a business perspective, and

3. Ensure device transparency for network management software to break free of the proprietary approaches that existing hardware and software vendors have created.

About AlterPoint, Inc.

AlterPoint develops intelligent network change and configuration management (NCCM) solutions that have pioneered the evolution of network management. Companies worldwide rely on the intelligence and automation provided by AlterPoint's award-winning product, DeviceAuthority, to proactively manage configuration change, compliance and security across their multi-vendor network to maximize the performance and availability of their IT infrastructure. Founded in 2001, AlterPoint is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with offices in Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit www.alterpoint.com.

About the Open Management Consortium

The Open Management Consortium was announced to help advance the promotion, adoption, development and integration of open source systems/network management software. The founding members of the Consortium are Ayamon, Emu Software, Qlusters, Symbiot, Webmin and Zenoss. For more information, please visit http://www.openmanagement.org.

(C) 2001-2006 AlterPoint, Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. AlterPoint, DeviceAuthority, and their respective logos are trademarks of AlterPoint, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other company or product names mentioned are used only for identification purposes and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Source: Business Wire

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