CA Spectrum

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Spectrum

Developed by	CA
Latest release	8.1 / Oct 2007
Written in	C/Java
OS	Solaris, Windows, Linux
Development status	active
Genre	Network management system
License	Commercial
Website	CA/Spectrum

CA SPECTRUM Network Fault Manager is the name of a network fault management product developed by CA, Inc. that models the layer 2 and layer 3 of LAN, WAN, wired, wireless, physical and virtual networks.

It provides advanced features such as network autodiscovery, impact analysis, event correlation, service level management and automated configuration change management. The tool is capable of automatically identifying all network assets and generate a network topology map that displays all network elements down to physical and logical port. Through the use of network models it is capable of determining and representing the impact of a network fault so that alarms related to a single fault are suppressed.

Like other network management solutions (such as HP Openview) Spectrum is made of a different set of modules that can be independently licensed and integrated in the network management solution. Some of the available modules are:

Foundation Suite
Network Configuration Manager
Microsoft MOM Connector
MPLS VPN Manager
Multicast Manager
QoS Manager
BMC Remedy Gateway
Report Manager
Secure Domain Manager
Service Manager
Service Performance Manager
SNMPv3 Module
Southbound Gateway Toolkit
Modeling Gateway Toolkit
TL1 Gateway Toolkit
CORBA Toolkit

[edit] History

Spectrum was originally developed within Cabletron Systems Inc in 1991. In 1999, the Spectrum business unit became a separate company, called Aprisma Management Technologies. The main goal of this division was to erase industry perceptions that the technology was tied to Cabletron's hardware. Up until this division other companies, such as as Cisco, saw Cabletron as a competitor and were reluctant to work together with it^[1]. Cabletron was later divided into Enterasys and Riverstone, and Aprisma was sold by Enterasys to Gores Technology Group following a SEC investigation.

In January 2005, Concord Communications, Inc. announced^[2] its intent to acquire Aprsima from Gores and later merged it with its eHealth Suite of management software applications.

CA, Inc. acquired Concord Communications, Inc including its Aprisma Management Technologies subsidiary, on June 7, 2005. ^[3]

Since some of the features available Spectrum where already present in some other of CA's products, mainly Unicenter, after the adquisition CA released its integration strategy ^[4]. This integration led to Spectrum being the root tool used in CA's network management products.