Concord delivers Network Health - Frame Relay; Provides industry's first automated reporting solution specifically for Frame Relay networks.

MARLBORO, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 11, 1996--Concord Communications, Inc., today announced a new performance reporting application for Frame Relay networks.

Network Health - Frame Relay will allow users to quickly and easily identify patterns of utilization and congestion in Frame Relay networks. Armed with this information, users can purchase exactly the bandwidth they need, when and where they need it.

According to industry analysts, the market for Frame Relay service is exploding. Frame Relay offers customers a more cost-effective and flexible means of transporting data than dedicated leased lines. As major corporations increasingly migrate to and rely on Frame Relay networks, network managers require tools that provide accurate and timely information on the performance of numerous permanent virtual circuits (PVCs).

"Without a performance reporting capability for Frame Relay, network managers are flying blind," said Kevin Conklin, vice president of marketing at Concord Communications. "Network Health - Frame Relay provides an automated, flexible tool that tells them what bandwidth they need now and in the future. This enables customers to purchase Frame Relay service levels from an informed standpoint. ROIs measured in months are common among our customers."

"Concord has extended its highly innovative Network Health software suite to focus on measuring Frame Relay network performance and WAN bandwidth requirements," said Charlie Robbins, vice president of communications research at Boston-based Aberdeen Group. "This next generation software tool, with its automated network analysis and reporting capabilities, could not have come at a better time. This is an exciting direction for Concord since industry patterns show users are migrating to Frame Relay in record numbers. Yet with this migration comes a clear need to assure network managers are tuned in to performance and utilization trends and closely watching carrier service level commitments. Network Health - Frame Relay is not only attractive to network managers, but also to Concord strategic partners, including Frame Relay suppliers and service providers."

Mercer Management Consulting, Inc., has been utilizing Network Health's Frame Relay support to monitor utilization of a global network spanning a dozen cities in North America and Europe. An increase in the consulting staff resulted in a substantial rise in network traffic and volume and a corresponding degradation in performance. "Before investing any more money in the network, our management committee demanded precise information on traffic flow, bandwidth utilization, and potential trouble spots," said Patrick Brennen, Mercer's network manager. "The Concord product automatically generated the information we needed to make decisions on redistributing critical network resources and on new acquisitions. Our investment in Network Health was recouped almost immediately by the savings achieved in redeploying resources from congested links to underutilized ones."

Network Health - Frame Relay Revealed

Building on Network Health's existing automation strengths, Network Health - Frame Relay delivers concise performance analysis reports for Frame Relay networks. The same underlying SmartScan technology collects data on individual Frame Relay permanent virtual circuits (PVCs) from the Frame Relay MIB (management information base) of installed routers and switches. SmartScan also includes a relational database engine that sifts through vast amounts of data, "homogenizes" it into a common presentation format, and generates automated reports.

Network Health - Frame Relay reports capture trends in daily and hourly network volume, bandwidth utilization, and provide a gauge of the overall health of the network. The "Situations to Watch" report allows network managers to adjust WAN service level agreements and schedule critical upgrades when and where needed, saving significant expense in underutilized bandwidth.

Using Network Health - Frame Relay customers can quickly identify increased levels of network volume and congestion. Customers can utilize this information to make informed decisions on the deployment of existing network resources or to plan additional investments. They also gain vital data for optimizing the committed information rate (CIR) of their Frame Relay circuits. CIR is the minimum data transmission rate guaranteed by the Frame Relay service provider.

Pricing and Availability

Network Health - Frame Relay is available now and is priced at $8,995. The software ships on a CD-ROM and runs on a Sun SPARCstation or HP-UX workstation with either SunOS 4.1.4, SunOS 5.4 (Solaris 2.4), or HP-UX 9.5 or 9.7. Network Health - Frame Relay runs independently of enterprise network management platforms such as HP OpenView or SunNet Manager.

Concord Communications, Inc., is a leading supplier of automated network reporting and analysis tools that provide customers with the information they need to effectively plan and manage the growth of their enterprise networks. Fortune 1000 companies turn to Concord each morning to assess the health of their enterprise-wide networks. Concord is a privately held company with headquarters in Marlboro, Massachusetts.

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Note to Editors: Concord and the Concord logo are registered trademarks and Network Health and SmartScan are trademarks of Concord Communications Inc. All other brands and product names are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective holders.

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