Probes Extend Network LifeProbes Extend Network Life

Products that help companies delay the purchase of equipment can pay for themselves in short order. That's one reason Todd Birkenholtz, network analyst at FBL Financial Group Inc., likes the network-management system from Compuware Corp. called Network Vantage. By giving him a better understanding of what's happening on his network, he probably can hold off on a network upgrade. "With this product, we might be able to tune the apps, eliminate some network traffic, and buy an extra year or two," he says.

FBL is a financial-services company that sells life insurance and mutual funds through subsidiaries such as Farm Bureau Life Insurance Co. and EquiTrust Life Insurance Co. The company uses more than 350 frame relay links to connect its offices at 56 Kbps. Birkenholtz knows a network upgrade is needed and may do one next year, but the company would prefer to delay spending the money.

Other network-management products let him monitor overall network traffic, but they didn't give him the level of detail Network Vantage provides, Birkenholtz says.

The system uses hardware probes that are added to each switch, router, gateway, and network device, and which report on the amount of bandwidth and how it's being used. FBL is using 20 probes.

Birkenholtz says he now can see what's going on when there's a spike in performance. Virus protection updates, while essential, are among the greatest bandwidth hogs, he says. He also has better insight into what's happening at remote offices around the country. "With Network Vantage, we can see what people in remote offices are looking into on the network," he says.

Network Vantage, which is being introduced this week, starts at $26,500 with one probe. Each additional probe costs $8,500; a five-pack costs $40,000.

Compuware is responding to market realities and releasing products that fix expensive problems on wide area networks. Says analyst Jasmine Noel at JNoel Associates, "Customers can install Network Vantage once and they don't have to install hundreds of additional pieces."