Network configuration tool upgrade targets Sarbanes-Oxley compliance

Computerworld - Gold Wire Technology Inc. today announced a software upgrade for its Formulator line of network configuration management appliances, adding features that it said can help users meet the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other regulations.
Waltham, Mass.-based Gold Wire also said the new release will be able to track configurations of Unix servers in addition to its existing support for network devices made by vendors such as Cisco Systems Inc. and Nortel Networks Ltd. The upgrade is available now; pricing for Gold Wire's Formulator 200 systems starts at $22,000, plus a per-user license fee of $275.
Jim Sherer, director of ASP operations at ADP Inc.'s Dealer Services unit in Hoffman Estates, Ill., said he plans to test the new Formulator release within the next month. The company, which provides computing services to 6,500 auto dealers in the U.S., has been using Gold Wire's current version since February to track changes to systems that are maintained by 1,700 technical support workers.
The new regulatory compliance component is "extremely important" to ADP Dealer Services as it seeks to run required security audits on its systems, Sherer said. Gold Wire's technology should help the ADP unit track end users and check whether they have proper authentication, he said.
In addition to the regulatory features, the upgrade gives users increased reporting capabilities, Sherer said.
Gold Wire is part of an emerging group of network configuration management vendors that also includes Voyence Inc., AlterPoint Inc. and Rendition Networks Inc., said Glenn O'Donnell, an analyst at Meta Group Inc.
"They're all trying to demonstrate a way to do configuration better, since it's a horribly manual state of affairs right now with lots of errors and inconsistencies," O'Donnell said. He added that Nortel's Optivity technology and Cisco's CiscoWorks software can manage configurations for their respective devices but not for a diverse network.