London-based Micromuse Ltd, the former Sparcsystems builder that is now a Sun Microsystems Inc reseller, says it has now done upwards of ú1m on its two network management software products, Netcool/OMNIbus and Netcool/LegacyWatch (CI No 2,535), with 15 customers – three in the US. The first is a fault detection and reporting system that sits on top of standard Simple Network Management Protocol systems. It uses messaging services of the management systems to pass information between its probes and the server, then passes correlated information to the desktop. It can monitor a range of devices. LegacyWatch is a graphical software development tool that manages non-SNMP environments from SNMP-based systems via intelligent agents. MicroMuse’s main competition in this area is Folsom, California-based Objective Systems Integrators Inc’s NetExpert network management system. MicroMuse, which has a five person-strong operation in Dallas, Texas, is now looking for an office in San Francisco, California, which will be run by managing director Chris Dawes. The company’s ú11m of turnover for 1994 were split evenly between hardware sales (which are a diminishing revenue stream), distribution of US software such as Remedy and Frontier in the UK (a growing business), and its own products and services, including Netcool (which is also growing). The company’s plan calls for an initial public offering on the US NASDAQ market rather than in London in a couple of years if all goes well.
