DMS picks OpenView to watch network

The Defense Message System will use Hewlett-Packard Co.'s OpenView Network Node Manager to get a better view of the DMS network's components and increase its ability to pinpoint problems and outages, HP announced Tuesday.

The Defense Information Systems Agency has licensed and deployed 350 copies of HP OpenView Network Node Manager to most of the 600 locations that run DMS. DMS is used by the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Marine Corps for messaging at the top-secret level and below.

DMS will replace the Defense Department's Automatic Digital Network by 2003.

HP has been working with DMS for about four years, said Bob Kraekel, a representative of enterprise software solutions in HP's federal business unit.

HP OpenView Network Node Manager, which is installed on network operators' workstations to monitor network devices, is the first OpenView product to be introduced on the DMS network infrastructure, he said.

"DOD's trying to reduce the administrative overhead and automate some of the routine functionality," Kraekel said. As an enterprise network management tool, HP OpenView discovers components on the network and pinpoints where and what specific problems arise. The product is used elsewhere in DOD and at other agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration, he said.

HP hopes to add other products for systems and applications management to DMS in the future, Kraekel said. Specific add-on tools that might be useful for DMS show what services are impacted by a network outage and which users may be affected.