Network Management Systems Under One Roof

    I bet network administrators are happy to hear that researchers from Bolton College has developed a network management system that monitors a building BMS (building management system), closed circuit television system, IPTV system, ICT systems, and a host of other systems. Even though all this sounds good it could also be a hindrance to network operators. The idea of managing all these systems in one integrated system seems great, but wouldn’t this mean more work for administrators? Unless operators renegotiate salaries they will acquire more work due to managing additional systems that would normally be run by another department.

   Thus, the convergence will make life easier. For example, pinpointing problems that need to be fixed.  Administrators will not have to spend hours figuring out where problems are located within the network and how to fix them. This capability can come in handy while managing many complex networks that could cause an adverse effect on each other via bandwidth and power usage. EPICenter, which is the core platform for this particular network management system can display the network in map form.

     One of the best features of EPICenter is the ability to click one of the network topology lines and see alarms, events, and alerts for ventilation , heating, fire alarms, elevators, NIC cards, fan speeds, etc.  However, this network management system cannot converge reporting. In my opinion this is one of the most important features inside a system like this. Not having integrated reporting with software like this is similar to not having vanilla ice cream with your peach cobbler  it’s just not complete. But this is an area that is being worked on. As a result, I personally would not invest any funds into the system until this particular issue is resolved.
    
     Users will have to decide for themselves if this new network management system is worth it. Ask yourself, do you want a central location to monitor the buildings BMS systems like fire alarms, elevators, and electrical power without converged reporting? Or would it be worth the wait to jump onboard in a couple of years when the total package is available.