Windmill Networks Integration Manager (WIM)

The initial product from new player Windmill Networks, the Windmill Networks Integration Manager (WIM) provides for the network manager a centralized interface and console through which they can synchronize the data of multiple, disparate Network Management Systems, including CiscoWorks (3.0.1), HP Network Node Manager (7.5x), SolarWinds (8.5/9/9.1), and SecureFusion. Additionally, the product includes Web-based APIs, SQL interfaces, and support for user customizable tables, potentially enabling support for other 3rd party tools as well as a customer's organically developed platforms.

In brief, WIM consists of a central console (deployed as a VMware Virtual Appliance for ESX 3.5, or available from the vendor as a pre-loaded hardware appliance), which is accessible via a JavaScript-enabled browser and provides the ability to communicate with software agents (more below) towards the goal of building a common database of all network information known to those applications. It then provides the ability to report on this information, highlighting areas that differ from product to product (for example, a particular network element that is known to CiscoWorks but is not known to HP NNM, or a particular configuration detail that is set in HP NNM that is not set in SolarWinds). Network admins can use the interface to drill into details of individual network elements as they are represented by each of the 3rd party management systems, and informational differences can be ignored (in the cases where the differences are known by the admin and are intentional), or marked to be published, in which case WIM communicates with the 3rd party systems to bring their data profiles in synch for the respective element. Such synchronizations can occur on demand or on a scheduled basis, including a "correlation schedule" provided by the platform itself. CiscoWorks, HP NNM, and SolarWinds are all listed as supporting full import/export of elements and element information; while SecureFusion is listed as supporting only element data reads.

The software agents that are used by the platform to communicate with the network management systems are themselves provided by Windmill Networks, and are deployed to the same server that WIM resides on, when possible. The location of the agents, however, is dependent on the 3rd party NMS itself; and the vendor states that when it is necessary for the agent to be deployed to the NMS server they can supply an agent that matches the O/S the NMS is running on (for example, both Windows and Solaris agents are available for CiscoWorks).

Related features of the platform include the ability to enter new element information and propagate it to all recognized systems, support for rule-based configurations, and an included (embedded) DB (MySQL 5; the vendor notes that the product also supports any DB farm that itself supports MySQL 5.x).

Windmill Networks Integration Manager is available now, with pricing ranging from $5,000 to $100,000, depending on network size. Contact the vendor for further information.