Open Source Management Line Evolves to EcosystemOpen Source Management Line Evolves to Ecosystem

A management tool is only as strong as the number of devices that it can control. Consequently, once network management systems become popular, vendors try to extend them, so they work with other devices. One popular open source product has recently been enhanced, so it can interact with other vendors products.GroundWork Open Source has begun beta testing GroundWork Monitor 6.0, which includes the companys first software development kit. With it, third parties and customers can extend the systems capabilities to collect information from other devices and control them.

The new features stem from support of the JBoss application development platform, which features SOAP APIs for accessing monitoring data. GroundWork Monitor can now be integrated with other management systems, such as ticketing systems, asset management products, and provisioning tools. A new portal interface supports role-based access control to better secure corporate assets. In addition, the products Status Viewer has been redesigned to more efficiently collect availability and performance data and present it in a single view to network technicians. The beta program is expected to last a month or two, so the new features should be generally availabile by the end of the summer.

The change enables the open source product to compete more effectively with management systems from established vendors, such as CA, BMC, HP, and IBM. These products have been available for more than a decade and enhanced so they work with a wide variety of products. While GroundWork Open Source has improved its connectivity to other systems, it still does not interact with as many devices as those products.

In addition, the need for integration is evident among medium and large companies that have many systems. GroundWork Open Source has been successful in delivering functional, inexpensive management tools to small and medium businesses. Buoyed by its success, the company has been branching out: pushing down to tiny companies as well up to larger businesses. The vendor is clearly vying to become the fifth major management supplier. Whether its recent initiatives will help meet that goal or distract the company from its core business will become evident in the coming months.