Surveying the rising tide of point products in the help desk, trouble ticketing network or systems management markets, Legent Corp is mustering all of its resources, and more, into a broad-based, head-long assault it is calling the Paradigm/XP Process Management Suite. The suite includes four applications and six services, all expected to be in place by the end of 1995. First of the new applications is Paradigm/XP Knowledge Manager, due in the third quarter, which Legent has licensed from, and will co-develop with, Emerald Technologies Inc, which markets the software as Empower. Knowledge Manager comes with tools and a repository for storing service information learned within a company and can be tied to external databases such as SecureWare and Knowledge Broker, or on-line help files. Also due next quarter is Call Manager, which provides front-line access to users’ call history and environment profiles. The Windows or Unix application can be tied to automatic name identification systems, Legent says. Change Manager, due by year-end, is a workflow application for initiating, tracking and managing requests. The fourth application, Problem Manager, is Legent’s existing trouble-ticketing system, now at version 2.1 (CI No 2,504). Two of the six services, Enterprise Domains and Enterprise Web client, are due next quarter. The first enables management tasks to be delegated and shared around an organisation, the second is a Web server and browser for accessing Paradigm/XP information. There are four services that already exist. Network Monitoring Interface provides application programming interfaces between Problem Manager and OpenView, NetView for AIX, SunNet Manager, Cabletron Spectrum, its own AgentWorks, and Novell NetWare Management System. Legacy Gateway enables trouble ticket information to be shared with mainframe help desk applications such as IBM Corp’s Info/Man. There is also a custom reporting kit and C application programming interfaces to Legent’s XPErtware middleware in the XPE distributed management environment. A Problem Manager starter kit with four clients, database interface and one admin client is from $17,500. Start-up services cost $7,500 for five days, including installation and training. The Network Monitoring Interface is $4,500. The software developer kit is $2,500. The Legacy Gateway is $35,000. Custom Reporting is bundled with Problem Manager; no prices for the new modules. Legent’s help desk solutions are aimed primarily at the Clarify, Remedy, Scopus and Vantivex-type markets. Paradigm/XP Process Management is part of Legent’s XPE distributed management environment technology. The other part of the company focuses on application development.
