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The Upshot
 Netreo's OmniCenter OnDemand SaaS is a complete network management solution with no agents, clients, hardware or software to purchase. The service requires no administration and lets the IT organization focus on improving the environment's performance, not on maintaining the complex network management application.  Maintaining, configuring and extending the homegrown applications that manage critical network equipment often demands too much from an overburdened staff. Network management SaaS applications promise added visibility without requiring a major investment in enterprise management infrastructure  While OmniCenter OnDemand may benefit small organizations that have no visibility into their IT infrastructure, Netreo's SaaS solution lacks many standard capabilities, such as receiving syslog messages, SNMP traps and trouble-ticketing integration beyond e-mail. Plus, customers must still run a virtual machine and OmniCenter software to collect data, and the monthly pricing is prohibitive compared with good-quality in-house software like WhatsUp Premium. |
Netreo'S Omnicenter Ondemand takes the burden of maintaining an enterprise management solution off your IT organization's back. However, the network management software-as-a-service concept has a high price and some limited features.
With the OmniCenter network-management appliance at its core, Netreo's SaaS offers fault, performance and configuration management, and provides visibility into any IP network, system or application resource using SNMP. This includes real-time alerts, long-term trending, as well as diagnostic and forensics reporting--regardless of the specific vendors in your environment.
Netreo offers Basic and Pro versions. Users with a few hundred devices will find the service more cost-effective than those with just a few dozen devices. Starting at $25 per device per month for 10 devices, the Basic version provides most of the core functionality a small IT shop needs. Upgrading to the Pro version--which starts at $75 per device per month--adds WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) support, letting IT administrators leverage the management data available in a Windows application without adding agents or writing custom scripts. OnDemand Pro also provides network device configuration, port scanning and several other capabilities. However, the current version cannot collect NetFlow/sFlow data from IP network traffic.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
Amid ongoing regional uncertainties, telecom infrastructure in the Middle East has expand to include terrestrial low-latency network infrastructure, which offers resilience and agility in navigating political complexities without relying solely on undersea networks.
