email: hbutters@prompt-communications.com
web: www.prompt-communications.com
London, UK office Tel: +44 (0) 207 996 1650
Cambridge, MA, USA office Tel: +1 617 576 5763
Online Newsletter
Click here to see the previous issues archive.
2008 Press Releases
18-October-2008 : Network Visibility report from Aberdeen Group
Aberdeen Group's report, "The Value of Network and Application Visibility", was published this week. Amongst other findings, the survey found that while 85% of the organizations surveyed collected more network and performance data over the last two years, less than half of these organisations (41%) had seen any improvement in their ability to prevent performance issues.
What makes the difference between throwing money away, and getting value from it ? "Best-In-Class are doing a better job at selecting tools," says Bojan Simic, a research analyst at Aberdeen. "Primarily, they're deploying systems which not only collect more data, but make that information more usable."
Read the full report ...... Aberdeen Report
15-July-2008 : New Partner - Claranet
We are pleased to announce Claranet becoming our latest partner this month.
Claranet is a Managed Services Provider with over 12 years' experience in the industry. They provide Network and Hosting services for their customers, enabling them to focus on their business rather than worrying about their technology.
17-May-2008 : Network World review
Biogen Idec are among the early U.S. customers of the Highlight service.
Click here to read Network World's review of Biogen Idec's Highlight implementation.
14-May-2008 : Biogen Idec customer case study
When Biogen Idec, a global biotechnology leader, demanded detailed visibility of its IT network traffic, health, trends and applications, NetEvidence's solution delivered the required clarity of vision.
Click here to read the full case study
15-April-2008 : New Partner - Excell Network Solutions
The Excell Group pride themselves, not just in creating innovative Voice & Data Convergence solutions, but on delivering the human qualities that make the biggest difference – not just during installation, but with an ongoing Service & Support that recognises the importance of business continuity.
It's a shared ethos on which Highlight has been built, and as Mark Murphy, the Group Technical Director explains, "Our customers choose Excell because we deliver as the most responsive partner, not just a supplier. We are at the forefront of managed service provision, and sharing Highlight with customers clearly demonstrates our commitment to meet rising customer expectations."
In 2006 Excell won the Channel Network Awards for Managed Service of the Year and are finalists at the 2007 Channel Network Awards for our unified communications solution.
08-April-2008 : Feature Release
New Feature : Performance Insight on Network Status display
Whenever a location is selected, the current week's Summary Strip appears showing stability, health and load metrics – and now, PI has its own strip. This makes it really easy to see if network, web page or application response time is performing poorly against the target/SLA value.
11-Mar-2008 : Feature Release
New Feature : Multi-type Performance Insight
Extended capability is now available that enables application aware testing to multiple network targets, shown on a single display:
- Review response time tests to over the network bearer
- HTTP loads to your website
- Test application availability using TCP to your email, SAP, CRM, provisioning or bespoke servers
- Instantly compare performance from a central point on your network, from head office to regional offices
- Test resilient network links to and from locations
Whether you have a single network link or want to test delay through each MPLS class of service, PI provides the baseline data that is key for deploying sensitive, centralised applications over IP networks such as SAP, Citrix, Notes or VoIP.
22-Feb-2008 : Pipex Business re-brands as Vialtus Solutions
Pipex Business has kicked off its re-brand to Vialtus Solutions, which will focus on providing integrated solutions to mid-market and large companies.
Vialtus takes its name from the Latin words Via ('way') and altus ('high'), reinforcing the new brand's focus on enabling IP based communications on the information highway." says the company. It believes that Vialtus moves beyond 'speeds and feeds' to focus on finding answers to business problems through a suite of secure managed access, hosting and value add services.
The Pipex Brand has become part of Pipex Internet Ltd, a Tiscali UK company.
31-Jan-2008 : Feature Release
New Feature : News Insight
Highlight News Insight implements Alerting for business users in a uniquely flexible and powerful way. Unlike Traditional alerting which puts business users at a disadvantage by requiring expensive back-end system that only technical staff can see.
News Insight is different. Users receive a 'heads-up' of summarised information in a single email bulletin tailored per person to help manage the network services more effectively and efficiently.
On-line Observers watch the network for you and you choose when to be notified on stability, health or traffic load exceptions - every hour, day, week or month.
Bulletins even show a small graphical summary of recent performance, and when you next login to Highlight, the cumulative listing of exceptions enables rapid review, so that you can understand the situation, factor into planning, make a recommendation or contact a technical resource to investigate further.
2007 Press Releases
12-Dec-2007 : Feature Release
New Feature : Network Explorer menu buttons
The Network Explorer is updated on all customer and partner systems with a new set of buttons at the top of the Network Explorer which group key functions for managing sizeable networks and folders:
- Refresh / reload the Network Explorer tree
- Collapse the Network tree
- Search by company, link identifier or location
- Manage Favourites
- Manage Meeting Point Initiations (optional)
- Manage News Insight Observers (optional)
3-Dec-2007 : Feature Release
New Feature : Rate Adaptive support for DSL-Max
Increasingly, ADSL connectivity is based on the DSL-Max standard, providing faster upload speeds than standard ADSL while automatically choosing the best line speeds for each link to give users optimum performance every time. This appeals to businesses running bandwidth-hungry services like VoIP, video streaming or application hosting.
However, network speed doesn't settle down until lines have been running for ten days and may change again if devices are replaced, restarted or reconfigured. It's hard to know exactly what bandwidth is available, and how much of that is being used without constantly checking and impractical resetting of the management platform.
Highlight's new 'DSL Rate Discovery' feature will check the true speed of every DSL line on a daily basis and update reports accordingly, delivering accurate data and satisfied users.
23-Nov-2007 : Claritas Solutions extend partnership agreement
Claritas Solutions have been using Highlight for many years via another partner's capability, in conjunction with their own services provided to jointly managed customers. An extension to our relationship enables Claritas to provide Highlight services independently.
Claritas Solutions work with over 250 major UK corporations which take advantage of their specialist knowledge and in-house skill, so benefiting from the most effective technology solutions. They maintain a delivery of choice, improving quality of service to drive price benefits across business technological requirements.
14-Nov-2007 : Feature Release
New Feature : Meeting Point Invitations
NetEvidence launches Highlight's 'Meeting Point Invitation' capability. It allows any incidents discovered in Highlight to be shared quickly and easily with Technical Support, colleagues, other departments or partners with just a click. Highlight's 'Send an Invitation' button will send emails to chosen contacts complete with message, exact network link, date and view in invitation shortcuts, so that other users can go directly to a particular example when they next login.
17-Oct-2007 : Feature Release
New Feature : User Administration
Highlight is provided on a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) basis with as many users viewing Networking Reporting visibility as necessary. By default, each company has a principle user contact who receives notification if there are changes or additions to the system - and now, the principle contact can administrate their companies user access via their browser-based login. Simply contact your Highlight Support team to have your privileges adjusted in order to access the Administrator Toolbar.
9th & 11th Oct-2007 : Event Notice - Solace Annual Conference
The Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Mangers aims to promote excellence in Public Service. NetEvidence will be attending the conference with Pipex Business in the Cardiff Arena focuses on the influence of economic and environmental global forces on the world of local government.
15th & 16th-Oct-2007 : Event Notice - Socitm Annual Conference
The Society of Information Technology Management is the professional association for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) managers working in and for the public sector.
With over 1900 members from 550 different organisations including 98% of all UK local authorities, Socitm provides a widely respected forum for the promotion, use and development of ICT best practice. It also plays a leading role in the implementation of local e-government in the UK.
NetEvidence are attending at the Belfast Waterfront Conference Centre with Pipex Business, who work closely with hundreds of Public Sector organisations to support both transformational change and the drive for improved efficiency, effectiveness and employee experience.
27th & 28-Sep-2007 : Event Notice - Silicon Cup 2007
Once more onto the water, in partnership with the (newly named) Equinix organised yachts, in support of the event organised for the IT Industry which attracts over 50 competing yachts. Teams of communications and technology professionals and executives race over two days in the Solent. Thankfully, the professional skippers supplied with chartered boats enable people to enjoy the thrill of close quarter yacht racing in a large fleet - without the potential expense when proximity drops below one metre!
17-Sep-2007 : IXEurope becomes Equinix
Equinix has completed its acquisition of IXEurope. This acquisition solidifies Equinix's expansion in Europe and its position as the world's market leader in network-neutral colocation services. With the addition of IXEurope, Equinix now offers 35 datacentres in 17 key markets in North America, Europe and Asia. For the first time, Equinix and IXEurope customers will be able to rapidly deploy a global datacentre footprint.
29-Aug-2007 : Feature Release
New Feature : Application-aware Performance Insight (PI) testing
PI has been extended to support alternative delay testing methods to ICMP (ping), to more accurately reflect user experience for web HTTP page loads or application server availability via TCP port connection tests. This capability firmly puts the control with the enterprise who can not only show how the the network link is performing, but also the application servers - and the difference is the defining piece of jigsaw when trouble-shooting service to business users.
2-Aug-2007 : Feature Release
New Feature - Auto detect of MPLS CoS
Highlight's Class Insight capability shows the logical components within a physical bearer, such as VPN Tunnels and Classes of Service (CoS) within MPLS and DSL networks. Often customers upgrade to these advanced networks, but don't get the logical components immediately - but Highlight is the perfect way to size the relative capacities of each Class - and now Highlight Auto-detects the classes when they are created, which is fastest way to obtain visibility once the network team have enabled the changes.
Highlight even suppresses visibility of classes that aren't being used and adds meaningful naming. Its all part of getting the most our of MPLS, which creates so much buzz, but needs tuning to maximise its benefit, especially when your business relies on VoIP and the delay sensitive applications that justified the network upgrade.
16-Jul-2007 : NetEvidence Sail and Powerboat Extravaganza
The celebrate the launch of the Highlight User Group, NetEvidence held boating event sailing and motoring around the picturesque Solent. Guests from Verizon Business, Azzurri Communications, IXEurope, Adapt, Pipex Communications, Cisco, Balfour Beatty & Prompt Communications had occasion to provide input into the next phase of capabilities, whilst meeting new people and sharing contacts in a relaxed environment.
Boating loyalties towards 'Sailing or Powerboating' are often as polar as a background in 'Voice or Data' in the communications world... and we tried our own version of Convergence, ensuring that everyone spent time enjoying both.
The IMX 45 performance racing yacht is considered to be the optimum and ultimate IMS cruiser/racer [by the wise! ], whilst the Sealine F37 luxury motor yacht with flybridge helm position, is a 38.5 ft vessel capable of reaching a top speed of 30 knots. [... yawn : Ed]
13-Jul-2007: After Hours Cup yacht racing
netEvidence took part in the After Hours Cup, yacht racing Clipper 68s Round the World racing yachts. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston introduced the art of racing the Clipper 68 Round the World yachts which begin the Clipper 07-08 Race in Sept (http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/). There will be ten 68ft-long (21m) yachts the 35,000 mile global Clipper race, each crewed by non-professional sailors and led by a professional skipper, making it unique in world yacht racing.
The After Hours Cup, organised in conjunction with the Institute of Directors was just a taster, but competitively raced by all.
20-Jun-2007 : Feature Release
New Feature - Customised Application Insight (AI)
Visibility of over 80 applications and protocols is standard within Cisco's inherent NBAR capability on compatible hardware, but often enterprises create bespoke applications and settings, that mean they want additional visibility of bespoke protocols and ports.
Highlight's application aware capability makes viewing the application make-up within the network utilisation very straightforward - now customers can individualise the capability, using the customisation service.
11-Jun-2007 : Event Notice - GCExpo 2007
NetEvidence are presenting Highlight in partnership with Pipex at the GCexpo 2007, the leading public sector IT event in the UK, where public servants see the latest technologies in action and discover solutions to the challenges faced within government.
Pipex will be explaining their wider initiative for 'Boundary Networking' which protects remote users and satellite office networks from such threats as identity theft, malware and phishing. The Secure Mobile and Secure Office capabilities target emerging security threats by combating inherent weaknesses in VPNs.
18-Apr-2007 : National Sales Campaign
Highlight is being implemented as the cornerstone of a National Sales Campaign to proactively discuss performance and service requirements with our partner's customers. As an account review tool, Highlight provides unique insight into the usage and trends of customer network links, making it is simple for both the Customer Services team and their customer to review relevant history that is the basis for capacity recommendations and the renewal / extension of contract services.
Highlight already contains the functionality to prioritise the entire national customer base, to speak to the most important first, and even handles the provisioning of automated customer access at the click of a button. It is the
fastest way to speak to customers in a consultative dialogue which promotes customer retention and business acquisition.
5-Apr-2007 : Feature Release
New Feature - Auto-Detect on Multilink networks
MultiLink networks provide a simple, scalable upgrade path for enterprises needing to increase leased line 2Mb capacity, by effectively adding a 2nd (and 3rd) 2Mb connection and then balancing the router's traffic utilisation across the multiple links. Highlight auto-detects this advanced capability and adds full networking reporting for each connection, as well as aggregated performance into the network location.
28-Mar-2007 : NetEvidence sponsor IXEurope's Happy Hour
NetEvidence are sponsoring March's IXExchange event in London which focuses on the network service needs of Financials organisations, requiring highly scalable, low latency capability.
IXEurope build sophisticated solutions on top of their data centres services, delivering the highest levels of security, uninterruptible power and state-of-the-art cooling. IXEurope work with customers to provide resilient business infrastructure, optimise performance, achieve availability objectives and reduce corporate risk - more cost effectively than doing it in-house.
22-Mar-2007 : Feature Release
New Feature - Heat Tiles show changing direction of performance
The Network Status display already provides the most intuitive way to see which network locations are experiencing issues. The colour-sensitive Heat Tiles update in real-time based on Stability, Load and Health metrics, and can even be filtered to show only locations with issues and when they began.
A new enhancement, applied to all customer systems, show whether the direction of change for issues by putting 'chevrons' onto the tops of orange and red exceptions to show whether it is moving 'up' (getting worse) or 'down' (getting better).
27-Feb-2007 : Tier-1 partner deploy Highlight Portal
A Tier-1 partner has deployed an advanced Highlight solution to proactively manage their entire European IP network, using the 'Sales and Support Portal'. Highlight's rapid implementation means that visibility of thousands of network locations in 19 countries can be achieved within weeks, to an audience throughout the central and regional support and customer facing teams.
"For us its, about reducing the mean-time-to-fix (MTTF)) and "no show" problems in the most efficient way. No Fault Found (NFF) issues drain resources where engineers investigate issues that have already cleared. We are targeting a 40% reduction on time taken to investigate and an increased capability to process health related issues, as well as link downs".
23-Jan-2007 : 200 node MPLS network onto Highlight
A global technology company listed on the London Stock Exchange which specialises in the practical application of advanced technologies, has chosen Highlight to provide Performance Visibility of over 200 locations, spread across 4 continents.
Highlight exactly maps the groups diverse capabilities and divisional structure to provide executive and divisional reporting on their new global MPLS network. Highlight provides the visibility to co-ordinate quality of service, Service Providers and In-house teams that track the rollout of key business applications being deployed globally.
4-Jan-2007 : NetEvidence company update
"2006 has been an astonishing year for Net Evidence", explains Richard Thomas, CEO. "With our unique insight into the networking industry through our partners, we are finally seeing that convergence and advanced networking technologies are being adopted by pragmatic enterprises. Enterprises are confirming that performance visibility is key to reducing the risk of network changes, and they are realising the benefits of more cost effective solutions to underpin business.
And for NetEvidence, we're riding the crest of the Software-as-a-Service wave. SaaS is the most effective implementation to deliver fast, cost effective software services - and the model that NetEvidence has always operated Highlight.
We've got an aggressive product roadmap scheduled for 2007 and are really looking forward to working with our partner and customer base which recently topped 2,600 and we have 100% renewed business at the close of the year."
2006 Press Releases
2-Nov-2006 : Azzurri Communications acquires Sirocom
Sirocom has been providing Highlight to customers worldwide since 2002 as an integrated component of FlexiVision, their on-line customer management and reporting system.
Azzurri Communications a leading managed services company delivering flexible voice, data and mobile communications. They one of the largest independent network management and support teams providing converged solutions which are not tied to technology and supplier.
Azzurri has attracted clients including Abbey, B&Q, BSkyB, BUPA, Cadbury, Schweppes, GAP, George Wimpey, HSBC, JD Sports, London Stock Exchange, Mattel, Prudential, Reed, Reuters, STA Travel, Tesco, Thomas Cook, UBS, Waterstone's and Woolworths.
5-Oct-2006 : NetEvidence at Light Reading's 'The New Telco' conference
NetEvidence CEO Richard Thomas helped kick off Light Reading's The New Telco conference at Olympia, London in October with a reality check on what users feel about today's offerings from Service Providers.
Joining speakers from BT, Ericsson and MediaNorth, Thomas explained that, sitting squarely between Service Providers and Enterprise Users, and talking to both on a daily basis, NetEvidence was in the ideal position to see what users needed, and expected, from Service Providers over the coming year.
"Principally, the feeling from Users is one of confusion", Thomas explained, "and worryingly this feeling also extended into the first few customer-facing layers of most Service Providers. New technologies are simply coming down the pipe too fast for the people who sell and support them, and for the customers who would use them, to assimilate the changes. Products teams are pushing a highly granular, rich set of very technical products down the channel, and while it’s not that hard to install new technology in a provider’s core network – where the decision path is short and the environment is tightly controlled by savvy people – bedding those changes in becomes harder, and slower, as you move out through Products, Sales, Support and finally the Customer".
21-Sep-2006 : NetEvidence partners IX-Europe at the Silicon Cup regatta
A mixture of NetEvidence staff and customers took to the water in September at the increasingly-popular Silicon Cup regatta in the Solent, UK. As part of IXEurope's fleet, 'Exabyte-4', achieved a best ranking of 3rd out of forty competitors, proving that you can do business and have a good time, especially if you don't mind getting wet.
18-Sep-2006 : Opal Solutions and NetEvidence in partnership
Opal Solutions have become a Highlight partner to give customers performance visibility of their network solutions. Opal Solutions are all about providing innovation and flexibility through the inspiration of their people. An agile, willingness to define converged high performance services for mid-sized businesses makes the new partnership really exciting.
13-Sep-2006 : Claritas Solutions extend their Highlight capability
Claritas Solutions have a comprehensive portfolio of internet services and solutions with which they focus on their UK Corporate customers' needs. Claritas Solutions have a long history in the solutions market and drive to provide personalised service in a multi-vendor environment.
Their capabilities include the project management and co-ordination of multi-vendors, via which they have accessed Highlight for several years, where the visibility helps their ongoing support and service to their clients.
20-Jul-2006 : Balfour Beatty selects Highlight to monitor 600-node network
Balfour Beatty has selected NetEvidence's Highlight service as the core reporting solution for the company's 'One-Net' project, a 600-node MPLS-based network. NetEvidence will liaise with Telcos, Security and Managed Network Providers to provide Balfour Beatty with real-time, easy-to-use reporting across the entire network, including application analysis, performance reporting, and trending.
Link to : Balfour Beatty Press Release
30-Jun-2006 : Boxing Orange and netEvidence sign partnership
Boxing Orange become a partner to offer Highlight to customers. BO, a specialist IT Security Services provider offer a complete range of services for protecting networks, hosts, VPNs, Identity and penetration testing. They recently became Cisco's Security Partner of the Year (IT & Ireland) and applying Highlight with their formidable solutions demonstrates their commitment to the provision of excellence to customers.
24-May-2006 : Pipex and netEvidence update partnership
In June 2005, Pipex Group became a partner implementing Highlight as a standard component of all MPLS Solutions. In May 2006, this agreement was enlarged to enable Pipex to deliver the benefits of Highlight's superior reporting on other elements of their connectivity portfolio
26-Apr-2006 : Salvation Army dials 999 for Highlight - case study
"Our experience with netEvidence from the very beginning has always been exceptional", says Mark Calleran, CIO for The Salvation Army's International Headquarters hub, based in London. "NetEvidence is rather like the 999 service. You can almost forget about it, but when you have that emergency, you'll know it will have been there collecting all the data you need to lead you to what the issue might be. "
Please read the full story: Case Study - Salvation Army
10-Mar-2006 : NetEvidence launches Application Insight (AI)
Cisco's Network Based Application Recognition (NBAR) capability is a proprietary component of its IOS operating system. It distinguishes between IP applications on the network and provides visibility of the different applications running on the network.
Using this technology, Highlight's AI uses Highlight's clear, graphical presentation to let organisations really see what's going on within their network, whether it is a simple DSL circuit, or a complex corporate network. AI is low touch and low-effort: data is collected from the customer CPE, with no additional hardware required. AI is another compelling reason to choose Highlight.
Link to : AI Press Release
6-Jan-2006 : Highlight now used in over 50 countries
With the addition of Chile and Venezuela, Highlight is now used to report on data networks in over 50 countries around the world. "Although predominantly sold in the UK and Europe, Highlight is very popular with multinational companies" said Andi Willmott, Business Development director at NetEvidence. "Highlight's clear graphics, timezone-sensitive presentation and 'Meeting Point' discussion tools make it ideal for managing an international network, where multiple people in a mix of countries need to communicate and collectively support a service".
2005 Press Releases
10-Sep-2005 : NetEvidence sponsors CIB awards in London
NetEvidence is a sponsor for the 2005 Computers In Business (CIB) Awards, presented at the Mayfair Hotel, London. At a black tie event attended by over 300 networking professionals, Richard Thomas - CEO of NetEvidence - presented the Network Professional of the Year trophy.
14-Jul-2005 : Highlight tops 2,000 customers
NetEvidence passes a significant milestone with the addition of the 2,000th Highlight customer. "We're now supporting over 2,000 companies on the Highlight platform" said Jeremy Edwards, Operations Director at NetEvidence. "Our customers have everything from a single Internet-access circuit, to a sizeable corporate network. We're proving to these customers how Highlight can scale easily and still provides clear, fast visibility even in busy environments".
12-May-2005 : Highlight fills the gap left by BT for Telme Farebase
TelMe Farebase, a leading supplier of e-commerce solutions to the travel industry, has selected Highlight, an independent network performance reporting service from NetEvidence, to monitor usage and availability of its virtual private network (VPN), supplied by BT.
Gareth Simpson, Customer Services and Technical Support manager for TelMe Farebase said: BT provides a good service, but its statistics aren't detailed enough for us: we would get reports saying that there was 98% use a week as a technical support manager keeping an eye on a large volume of network traffic I need more visibility and control than that. I need specifics.
Please read the full story: Case Study : Telme Farebase
10-May-2005 : Verizon chooses Highlight for European deployment
Verizon Business - one of the largest Service Providers in the world with a turnover exceeding USD80Bn - selected Highlight for deployment throughout 16 countries in Europe.
23-Mar-2005 : Highlight V6 launched for MPLS and VoIP
NetEvidence has launched version 6.0 of its independent network performance reporting service 'Highlight' which now adds support for MPLS networks, often used to implement Voice over IP (VOIP) networks and other delay-critical applications. Highlight already ensures optimum performance of virtual private networks (VPN) and hybrid networks. With the latest release, customers access the same easily understood reporting on their MPLS network, whilst their business converges voice and data