Pathsolutions Marketing: Switchmonitor Market Positioning

FCAPS

FCAPS is the ISO Telecommunications Management Network model and framework for network management. It is an accepted standard for identifying the major tasks in network monitoring. Different products will address different areas (some products may focus only on one category, and some may provide solutions to multiple categories to some measure).

The five areas are:

Fault Detection
Configuration Management
Accounting Management
Performance Management
Security Management

PathSolutions’Support for FCAPS

Category / PathSolutions / Note
Fault Detection / Strong / PathSolutions detects network faults no matter where they lie (any link, any device). No competitor comes close to our broad coverage in this area.
Configuration Management / Basic / PathSolutions includes some components that assist with configuration management, but is not a complete configuration management platform. A TFTP server is included, and there are scripts on the PathSolutions website that help with automating device configuration backups.
Accounting Management / Strong / PathSolutions performs well in this area due to its ability to measure every link in the entire network for usage. Individual users can be billed according to this usage if desired.
Performance Management / Strong / PathSolutions excels in this area due to the fact that we have a lot of metrics for each interface on the entire network. If an issue occurs that affects performance it will be immediately detected and an alert generated so resolution can immediately be applied.
Security Management / n/a / PathSolutions does not have any capabilities that enhance network security.

Summary of PathSolutions Offering

Feature / Description
Problem Prevention / Insures that all network devices and links are healthy and won’t incur any problems.
Faster Trouble Resolution / Discloses exactly when, where, and why network problems occur.
Advanced Netflow / Discloses WHO’s taking up bandwidth and WHAT they are doing in real-time
Outage Notification / Tracks availability of devices on the network as well as link status. Includes device parent/child relationships for intelligent notifications.
Wan Dashboard / Dynamic Network Map discloses real-time utilization and status of all WAN links
Network Device Inventory / Reports on device internal capabilities as well as Cisco serial numbers and OS versions. Includes downloadable Excel spreadsheet
Service Contract Tracking / Monthly reports on service contract status and expiration dates
Device Event Logging / Built-in syslog server with alerting capability
Device Config Backups / Built-in TFTP server

Complimentary Solutions

Sniffers/Packet analyzers
Wireshark
Etherreal
Netmon
Hardware cable testers
Fluke
Agilent
Network configuration & change management software
SolarWinds Orion Network Config Manager
NetCordia
ManageEngine DeviceExpert
Intrusion detection/Security management
Application performance monitoring (perfect compliment to this solution)

Competition

Network Performance & Fault Monitoring
SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor
WhatsUp Gold
HP OpenViewNetwork Node Manager
CiscoWorks Internetwork Performance Manager
CA eHealth Performance Manager
NetIQ AppManager Performance Profiler
IBM Tivoli Network Manager
ManageEngine OpManager
NetScout nGenius Performance Manager
Nimsoft NimBus
SNMP Graphing tools
MRTG/RRD Tool
CastleRock SNMPc
Paessler PRTG
Cacti
Nagios

Typical Budget Sources

IT Network Operations
Network Management Tools

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