The Upshot
With the EM7, ScienceLogic provides a range of network-management functions, including fault and performance management, configuration management and helpdesk, in a single appliance. The EM7 promises to eliminate the complexities involved in the installation, configuration and integration of enterprise management applications. ScienceLogic says its appliances can scale to suit even very large enterprises..
Many SMEs are stymied by the cost and complexity of NSM offerings from leaders such as BMC, CA, HP and IBM. That's a shame, because many would benefit from integrated management.
For a midmarket organization, the EM7 is a dream come true. Although some important features, such as correlation and broader application support, are missing, most IT groups will be quite satisfied with the capabilities provided for the price. The EM7 may have trouble finding a home in large enterprises, given that these organizations usually want market-leading point solutions or a product suite with a broad range of advanced features.
EM7
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In our latest nwc reader survey, 70 percent of respondents said that no one has ever finished deploying a network-management platform. Although we think that's a slight exaggeration, ScienceLogic has clearly taken note of the prevailing frustration level. Its answer is the EM7 appliance, which provides most core NSM (network and systems management) capabilities: system and network performance management, including monitoring bandwidth usage and availability; asset and configuration management; and helpdesk. The device can handle IP usage and allocation duties, and can accurately autodiscover network devices and TCP port availability. Better yet, these apps work together out of the box, eliminating the configuration and integration woes that typically plague NSM products. Don't need all the applications? Disable them with a click of the mouse.
Pick Your Size
ScienceLogic is looking to attract small and midsize enterprises while still keeping large enterprise IT groups happy. To broaden the appliance's appeal, ScienceLogic offers four images on the EM7, tailored to various size companies. In addition to the all-in-one image, for small enterprises, ScienceLogic provides collection, database and visualization images to distribute functions in larger environments. This architecture allows for centralized management of EM7 boxes, even in a global setting.
Also attractive to larger shops is the pricing structure, which is based on size and type of appliance, not number of nodes monitored. The EM7 starts at $25,000 for a single all-in-one box that can manage a few hundred devices. The cost climbs to $100,000 or more for a large, distributed environment that requires beefier appliance hardware. Although nothing to sneeze at, that's competitive compared with alternatives: CA, Hewlett-Packard and IBM offerings easily hit $250,000 and up when you combine fault and performance management, trouble-ticketing and configuration management.
