Trellis Software Inc has announced Network Manager for Banyan Systems’ latest version, 4.1, of its Vines network operating system. Banyan has enhanced Windows facilities in the new Vines release, and the Network Manager is also Windows-based. Hopkington, Massachusetts-based Trellis claims that Network Manager offers Vines managers new capabilities, such as graphically analysing their network performance in real time. Message traffic, disk usage, error rates, server load and swap averages can be charted as well as captured on a predetermined schedule for later analysis or exported to other applications for additional interpretation. The software uses Vines applications programming interfaces to recognise each server on the network, including those connected by dial-up links. Network Manager can draw the topology of the entire network and the image can be superimposed over any drawing, such as a map of the world, converted to Windows metafile format. By clicking on a particular location, the network administrator can view the network by region, building, department, floor, or office. Corporate users testing Network Manager include Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems, the cellular division of Bell Atlantic, which has committed to using the software to manage a 45-server network by year-end. Bell Atlantic Mobile co-sponsored development of the software. Network Manager will ship at the same time as Vines 4.1, in June. No price.
