By Eric Griffith

June 16, 2003

At the HP Software Forum in Chicago, running today through June 20, announcements meant to bolster use of HP OpenView in enterprises looking to control their networks are in abundance. Not least among them are announcements of several new partners in the HP OpenView Solution Alliance which are making products that function as plug-ins to OpenView Network Node Manager, allowing for full control of the wired — and wireless — LAN.

The company has added over 50 new HP OpenView Solution Alliance partners to its program since last November. HP offers a HP OpenView Unified Developer Toolset and Web services-based integration to make it easier for partners to integrate the products.

Among the WLAN control vendors who have made their products available for use under OpenView are:

Wavelink headquartered in Kirkland, Wash. and maker of Mobile Manager, has introduced Mobile Manager for HP OpenView. Wavelink vice president of marketing Eric Hermelee calls it “an engine that runs inside OpenView… at certain levels you just want a good view of most of the activity, and that’s in OpenView. But if you want to drill down an take corrective action on a device like an access point, apply settings, through the OpenView consol you click [to get to Mobile Manager].” All while staying in the same interface. The product will have general release in July

San Francisco-based Perfigo’s SecureSmart and Smart Manager are also now integrated with OpenView as that company also becomes a member of the Solution Alliance. With SmartManager, admins can use OpenView to map an entire LAN including the wireless side, and use it to discover any new wireless nodes that might come online. SecureSmart adds security functions like IPSec, VPN, firewall, and protection against Denial of Service (DOS) attacks.

Last week, AirWave Wireless of San Mateo, Calif., announced integration of its AirWave Management Platform with HP OpenView. The software will automatically find all 802.11 access points on the network and pass the information to OpenView, and there after monitors them in real-time, alerting OpenView via SNMP alerts about everything from a lack of bandwidth to rogue WLANs.

Other HP partner companies joining the Solution Alliance this week include NetPro Computing, maker of directory assurance software; IT modeling company OPNET Technologies; Voyence, which makes systems for dynamic configuration and management of networks.

HP also unveiled at the Software Forum an advanced network management program called Smart Way 2004, which puts OpenView controlled network and telephony management using OpenView in control of networks from Cisco Systems. It’s the beginning of Smart Way program with three modules, none for Cisco VoIP, a network management module that integrates OpenView with CiscoWorks, and a service management module.

Other WLAN companies with products that already tie into HP OpenView include Proxim’s Wireless Network Manager 1.4 and the new AirMagnet Distributed 1.0 system for enterprise-wide WLAN monitoring.