AlterPoint Addresses Compliance, Security

To keep pace with the changing requirements of network managers and compliance and security officers, AlterPoint Inc. is set to unveil a new version of its DeviceAuthority Suite for automated network change and configuration management of heterogeneous networks.

Version 3.5 of the suite adds greater intelligence and analytics to better address policies around compliance and security. AlterPoint extended the suites Network Intelligence Model to cover some 700 hardware, software, configuration and operational attributes.

The upgrade also includes turnkey Sarbanes-Oxley Act reporting that translates the requirements into IT language.

Click here to read more about Version 3.0 of DeviceAuthority Suite.

Across its base of customers, management services provider Network Insight LLC, which beta-tested the release, is finding that its pharmaceutical, biotechnology and financial services customers need SarbOx reports, said Matthew Stoyka, vice president of operations for Network Insight, in San Diego.

"The pharmaceutical companies were the first to embrace these [DeviceAuthority] reports for Sarbanes-Oxley," Stoyka said.

Beyond the regulatory compliance requirements, Stoyka said he believes new analytics features, provided in new graphical reports, are important additions to the suite. "It allows us to take data points and get trend information that lets you manage the network more efficiently," he said.

The products new syntax-checking feature lets network engineers validate strings for a planned configuration modification before deployment to network devices. "Syntax checking challenges you if it perceives an error. That really helps you get to high availability," said Stoyka.

Enterprise Management Associates Inc. estimates that about 60 percent of network outages are due to configuration errors. "You can configure something that seems correct in its own right but forces changes down the line that create problems if you dont have a set of enforced policies," said Dennis Drogseth, vice president at the company, in Portsmouth, N.H.

DeviceAuthority Suite 3.5, which includes new automated policy remediation, integration with Cisco Systems Inc.s CiscoWorks Resource Manager Essential, remote access authentication and support for Solaris, is available now.

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