Rancher,
NETA's help desk is a "dog with fleas"; Remedy and IBM are the leaders in this market. There is no reason for end users to replace a good UNIX solution with NETA's help desk today. Please don't quote the latest reviews of NETA's product, I read the same trade journals. However, if NETA can integrate their other product lines, i.e. network performance monitoring, virus detection and security and tie it all together with expert system capabilities then their help desk will be very strong. In addition, I would not get to excited about Network General's R&D capabilities. The Sniffer is still a DOS based product and Network General had to go out and buy Cinco in 1997 to get a WindowsNT based protocol analyzer.
NETA has to replace the lost technology from the Wheel Group ASAP. CyberCop will be an impossible sell against the Cisco version of the same product. The Cisco sales force will point out that they own the technology and ask where will the customer get the best support and enhancements, from the company that owns the technology or the company the OEM's the technology. NETA should buy ISS, a highly regarded intrusion detection company ASAP. However, even if NETA can replace the technology they still have to sell against Cisco, not an easy task.
Also, why do you assume that NETA is the only company with a grand vision to develop a strategic platform for network security? The key components of a security platform are a firewall, intrusion detection, encryption, router access lists and VPN's....now which piece doesn't Cisco have today?
PS. I hate being called Mikey! |
