After living with the leading enterprise network management solutions for more than three months, all we can do is shake our heads. Yes, the products have added features and improved performance, but when we get right down to it, the five tools we tested are mediocre at best. Is the law of diminishing returns kicking in, or is it just that we're still shy of the breakthrough that will finally make enterprise network management a reality?

To view the Report card.We tested Bull Worldwide Information Systems' OpenMaster 4.54, Cabletron Systems' Spectrum Enterprise Manager 5.0, Hewlett-Packard Co.'s OpenView Node Manager 6.0, Loran Technologies' Kinnetics 2.0 and Tivoli Systems' Tivoli Netview 5.1 in our Syracuse University Real-World Lab®; the HP and Tivoli offerings were in beta at test time. Each contender was loaded down by assigning the real-world diversity and sheer 10,000-plus node mass of the networks at Syracuse University and Network Computing's frame relay networks. The 24x7 testing lasted for three months; in the end, we saw no product we would call outstanding.

Of the pack, our leaders are Cabletron's Spectrum, which turned in a stable performance, and Tivoli's Netview, which shined despite suffering performance hiccups. Not too far behind is Loran's Kinnetics, which offers the most unusual and innovative approach to mapping and tracking the network in an all-Web network management appliance package. Much less impressive was Bull's OpenMaster, an enterprise systems and network management platform that lacks the out-of-the-box tools and performance to compete with the other products. HP's Network Node Manager shows real promise, but for our tests it was still very much a beta.

Cabletron Systems Spectrum Enterprise Manager 5.0
This new release of Spectrum combines on-site installation, implementation and stability at one price. We were glad to see that all the Spectrum modules needed to manage our network effectively are now included in Cabletron's base package. And we were equally happy to see rock-steady performance, in stark contrast to Spectrum's inconsistent performance in last year's test.

That said, Spectrum is far from perfect. Its GUI is rich in functions but poorly designed, resulting in a steep learning curve for operators providing 24x7 coverage. Obtaining network status is very difficult despite the fact that graphs and reports abound. For all the considerable diagnostic and statistical feedback, some basic overall views of the network are lacking.

Cabletron includes installation and implementation as part of Spectrum's price. While we didn't have much need for the installation support--our Solaris 2.51 installation was a no-brainer--the implementation help will pay off.