InteQ on March 27 will launch what it claims is the first on-demand service to offload implementation and operation of HP OpenView network and systems management software.
Given the high failure rates for achieving return on investment for NSM (network and system management) tools like OpenView Network Node Manager, InteQ is applying its expertise to the process for customers who dont want to completely outsource the function, but also dont have the resources it takes to get the most out of the tools, said Santhana Krishnan, chairman and CEO of the privately held MSP (management services provider)
“For every dollar of network and systems management software, companies spend $3 to $4 on consulting. With this solution there is no more consulting. It is a fixed monthly price and they dont have to worry about the product being implemented right,” he said.
“So many OpenView implementations fail or stall. They have the expertise to apply to the problem. They can bring projects along that otherwise would die on the vine,” said early user and reseller Paul Bullock, manager of product development at Logic Communications, in Hamilton, Bermuda.
As part of its service, InteQ implements the software for customers IT environments and then provides ongoing management of the tool, monitoring the customers environment and reporting. Some 80 different reports are a part of the standard offering.
Where it takes InteQ personnel between two to three weeks to implement the tools, it normally takes enterprise users between six to 12 months, according to Krishnan, in Bedford, Mass.
The short implementation time for InteQ was “a shocker,” Bullock said. “You tell them what you want to monitor, your escalation matrix—things youd have to code into OpenView; they send us a VPN box and you provide them with qualified host names; and 17 days later it was running. The time to value is very short,” he said.
InteQ has developed its expertise in NSM implementations over the last 11 years. One of the few remaining independent MSPs left after the field consolidated, the company offers selective outsourcing of part-time or full-time monitoring, troubleshooting and repair, and online IT Infrastructure Library training and consulting.
As a part of the managed service, InteQ provides comprehensive event correlation to gather more meaningful information from the OpenView software for customers. The service provides ITIL-based monitoring metrics, event correlation, reporting, problem identification, diagnostics and resolution.
The service, which covers a range of HP products such as OpenView Network Node Manager, OpenView Operations and OpenView Performance Insight, ranges in price from $10 to $50 per managed device per month. InteQ also offers volume discounts.
Just the software and hardware necessary to operate NNM, OVO and OVPI would have cost Logic Communications $250,000 and then another $80,000 per year, Bullock estimated. Now, however, “We pay a small fraction of that per month,” he said.
The new service from InteQ is available now.