Letters: The Big Picture

Boardman and Ahmed didn't mention Sprint in their article. Was Sprint's MPLS presence not significant enough to make it a potential bidder? Or was there some other reason for the exclusion?

John Loftus

IT Manager
Market Day
E-mail address withheld by request

Bruce Boardman replies: We invited Sprint to participate, but it didn't respond to our RFI. Maybe it was too busy with your conversion!

The Big Picture

Dave Molta's column "Mired in IT Incrementalism" (Sept. 2) hit the nail on the head. My department constantly battles with managers who want the world but won't accept any risk. I don't think they get the big picture.

Thanks for the column, Dave. I've forwarded it to those middle managers.Dante Augustus Papini
Senior Network Analyst
Computer Sciences
[email protected]

Clear On OpenView

In "HP's Mixed Message" (Sept. 14), Tim Wilson questions how Hewlett-Packard can position its Client Configuration Manager as a steppingstone to its HP OpenView enterprise-management line. But his argument--that "CCM is based on the Radia management technology HP acquired from desktop-management vendor Novadyne a couple of years ago, not OpenView"--is flawed.

Truth is, the OpenView solution, like the lower-end CCM, relies on Radia technology. As a result, OpenView now offers configuration management for the first time in five years.However, I do agree with Wilson's statement that "HP still hasn't clarified the relationship between CCM and Altiris, which was HP's primary desktop-management solution." For what it's worth, HP spokespeople have told me that Altiris, coming from an HP hardware partnership, is for low-end situations that don't require a link with, or an upgrade path to, centralized management.Erik de Ruijter
IT Consultant
Company name withheld by request
[email protected]

Tim Wilson replies: Erik, this isn't the first time in five years that OpenView has offered configuration-management capabilities. On the contrary, it has had configuration management ever since its introduction in the 1980s. What's different is that such functionality was previously aimed at networks rather than desktop environments.

Tell Us How You Really Feel

Send e-mail to [email protected], fax to (516) 562-7293 or mail letters to Network Computing, 600 Community Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030. Include your name, title, company name, e-mail address and phone number. All correspondence becomes the property of Network Computing.0