Services Sell Operating Systems
May 17, 1999
Award: Directory Service
The past year has seen some dramatic improvements in directory services, but the problem of interoperability has yet to be solved. Until effective cross-vendor directory support is available, the average enterprise will support many parallel directory services-- each targeted at a specific environment.
The most integrated directory service available is Novell's NDS, version 8.0. With Novell's own suite of NDS-aware applications, as well as its efforts to port NDS to additional platforms such as Windows NT and Sun Solaris, NDS has taken the first steps to bridging the OS-directory service gap.
Also of note is Netscape Communications Corp.'s continued development of its LDAP-integrated SuiteSpot environment. With the release of Directory Server 4.0 and the fourth generation of SuiteSpot servers, Netscape now collapses server management access controls into the directory server and provides the ability to delegate administration of Messaging Server for service provider implementations.
While Novell and Netscape continue to develop directory-aware applications, Zoomit Corp. takes a different approach to the dilemma of creating a unified enterprise directory. Instead of waiting for all applications to embrace a single directory, Zoomit's VIA 2.0 builds on its roots as a metadirectory server with vastly improved user interface.
--Dan Backman
|
Enterprise ISP
|
|
Winner
|
ConcentricHost, Concentric Network Corp., (800) 745-2747, (408) 817-2800
www.concentric.net
|
|
Finalists
|
GTE Enterprise Internet Service Provider, GTE Internetworking, (800) 472-4565, (781) 262-2905
www.bbn.com
Sprint IP Services, Sprint, (888) 730-DATA
www.sprint.com/IP
|
Award: Enterprise Internet Service Provider
Most ISPs will happily tell you about the innovative services they're working on. You'll get an earful about future network expansion plans, xDSL trials, real-time services VPNs. These ISPs can tell you what they'd like to be offering you. Meanwhile, Concentric Network Corp. is offering these services already.
Concentric's network is built on a private ATM infrastructure, with 16 SuperPOPs (points of presence) in major metropolitan areas and 136 traditional POPs in smaller regions. The company has aggressively rolled out xDSL and broadband wireless services at affordable rates. But it's not the raw size of the Concentric network that makes the biggest difference; Uunet and Sprint dwarf this ISP. Instead, it's Concentric's deployment of next-generation services that has captured our attention. Concentric is one of the first providers to offer business-class VPN, voice and video services over IP, and the service guarantees to back it up.
Like most ISPs, Concentric has traditional offerings--including connectivity and Web hosting--but this provider has extended its service commitments beyond what you'll find in the competition. Concentric has deployed local and distributed load-balancing along with large caching engines, to provide failover protection between sites and move content closest to the user. With SLAs (service-level agreements) specifying network availability at 100 percent, and a commitment of less than 80 ms of round-trip delay across its network, Concentric delivers the right mix of network horsepower, next-generation services and commitment to the enterprise customer.
|
IP Address Management Tool
|
|
Winner
|
Shadow IPcentral, Network Telesystems, (408) 523-8100
www.nts.com
|
|
Finalists
|
QIP 4.0 (now shipping QIP Enterprise 5.0), Lucent Technologies, (800) 408-2747, (610) 725-8535
QIP.lucent.com
IP AddressWorks, Process Software Corp., (800) 722-7770, (508) 879-6994
www.process.com
|
Award: IP Address Management Tool
Still keeping your IP information in flat files? Doubtful. IP address-management systems are becoming more powerful and better equipped for your network, with new features, better GUIs, and enhanced stability.
The leader of the pack is Network Telesystems' Shadow IPcentral. This system has the most intuitive GUI combined with a robust design of serving files. Shadow IPcentral and its daemons were designed from the ground up to be useful to the people who need it: network administrators.
Honorable mentions include Lucent Technologies' QIP 4.0 and Process Software's IP AddressWorks 1.0. QIP excels in its ability to handle large numbers of clients--a real boon to the large enterprise.
Process Software's IP AddressWorks 1.0, first reviewed this year, deserves mention for its leading role in developing and supporting open protocols. Although its power isn't up to the level of Shadow IPcentral, it isn't far behind. By supporting open protocols, it opens the possibilities to interchangeable servers.
--Jeff Ballard
Award: Log Analysis
Analyzing Web site traffic means more than looking at the number of hits a sit gets. Marketwave Corp. has revolutionized the log analysis industry with Hit List Professional 4.0. This product lets administrators generate reports that combine traditional log data with several other organizational databases. Imagine being able to calculate a site's success based on dollars, rather than hits, for example.
Web administrators may run any of the 60 predefined reports offered by Hit List Professional, or they may choose to use Hit List's point-and-click report designer to build a unique customized report. Although the reports may not be as sexy as some offered by runners-up WebTrends Corp.'s WebTrends Professional Suite or Microsoft Corp's Site Server Standard, they reach a level of detail far beyond the scope of either of those log-analysis products.
--Jeff Rubin
|
Network Operating System
|
|
Winner
|
OpenLinux 1.3 (now shipping 2.2), Caldera Systems, (888) 465-4689, (801) 765-4999
www.calderasystems.com
|
|
Finalists
|
NetWare 5, Novell, (888) 321-4272, (801) 228-4272
www.novell.com/netware5/
Solaris 7, Sun Microsystems, (888) 843-5282, (512) 434-1591
www.sun.com
|
Award: Network Operating System
The network operating system market changed dramatically over the past year. Novell embraced TCP/IP with NetWare 5, but alienated its loyal Macintosh and Unix audience by relegating Mac support to third-party development and releasing NFS significantly after the NetWare 5 product launch. Sun Microsystems, like the other Unix systems vendors, continues to improve Solaris with 64-bit enhancements, but still ignores Windows desktop dominance and has not provided basic file, print and directory services to the vast majority of desktops. Microsoft, too, continues to make minor enhancements to NT 4, while hoping to convince the market to wait for Windows 2000.
So while we applaud Novell and Sun for the advances to their respective products, we've selected Caldera Systems' OpenLinux 1.3 to receive our award for best NOS. Over the past years, Linux has proven its place as an advanced operating system, capable of providing network support services. Caldera, with its strong ties to Novell, has produced a product that serves as an excellent, full-featured NOS. NDS integration, Samba and the native Linux networking support make Caldara the new top dog in the NOS field.
--Art Wittmann
|
NFS Gateway for Windows NT
|
|
Winner
|
Hummingbird NFS Maestro Gateway 6.01 for Windows NT, Hummingbird Communications, (416) 496-2200
www.hummingbird.com
|
|
Finalists
|
AccessNFS Gateway (now shipping 4.0), Intergraph Corp., (800) 291-9909, (265) 730-3707
www.intergraph.com/nfs
Reflections NFS Gateway 7.0 (now shipping 7.1), WRQ, (800) 872-2829, (206) 217-7100
www.wrq.com
|
Award: NFS Gateways for Windows NT
Bridging the gap between large hetergenous networks is often the focus of the work day for busy network administrators. File systems are just a small part of that and include NFS to SMB gateways. A quick look at the results of our NFS gateway round up this year and you notice the blaxing speed of Hummingbird Communications NFS Maestro. Built from the an equally appreciated and successful NFS Maestro client product theres no doubt why it took top honors as a gateway as well.
A solid second place goes to WRQ's Reflection NFS Gateway 7.0. Robust management tools and features including automatic NT account creation, per-share password lists, real-time statistics, permission translation and centralized remote-gateway management. Unfortunately its higher price and lower performance hold it back and behind Maestro.
Second runner-up is Intergraph Corp.'s AccesssNFS Gateway. Although lacking management features and performance results AccessNFS is quite ready for the enterprise and large-scale implementations.
--Gregory Yerxa
|
Turnkey Internet Servers
|
|
Winner
|
The InterGate Solution, Internet Products, (877) 320-4800, (619) 320-4800
www.internetproducts.com
|
|
Finalists
|
WebZerver, MicroTest, (800) LAN-WORK, (602) 952-6400
www.microtest.com
|
Award: Turnkey Internet Servers
Take a quick look around at a few TV and print advertisements, and you quickly realize the Internet is everywhere. Eager to jump on the bandwagon, novice workgroups may nevertheless find it a daunting task to establish an Internet presence. Products like The InterGate Solution from Internet Products make this task a no-brainer for the newest of newbies.
Bursting with enterprise-class package options such as integrated network backup and an APC uninterruptable power supply, InterGate has the horsepower to satisfy needs within and beyond the workgroup. Seldom are turnkey solutions as well-suited to everyone's needs as The InterGate Solution is. Options, including a dial-in pool for telecommuters, user- and group-based security model and Web-hosting abilities, contribute to InterGate's repeat showing in Network Computing's Well-Connected Awards.
InterGate's biggest strength is its flexible workgroup-level administration and enterprise-quality features and performance. A sleek Web interface makes management a snap for the faint of heart, while its Unix based console environment will satisfy the hardest of die-hards. Although InterGate is a bit expensive, its brawn justifies the extra cost over runner-up MicroTest WebZerver.
--Gregory Yerxa
|
REPORTS
ANALYTICS
Follow 
