http://www.hp.com/pressrel/26feb96f.htm (PC Press Internet CD, 03/1996)
Palo Alto, California. February 26, 1996
Hewlett-Packard Company today announces that Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., a leading retail discount stockbroker in the United States, has selected the HP NetMetrix distributed monitoring and analysis system and HP LanProbe monitors for Ethernet and token ring as its standard for network monitoring. The HP system currently is used to measure performance and usage of Charles Schwab's growing network in addition to providing its network managers with fault-management information on an ongoing basis. HP NetMetrix also helps Charles Schwab manage its network by understanding how the addition of new applications, such as Windows NT, will affect network performance.
One of the most successful retail discount stockbrokers in the United States, Charles Schwab says it realizes the importance of technology in retaining its competitive edge. As the company makes the transition from a mainframe-based network to a distributed environment, network managers for Charles Schwab require a solution that can establish a baseline network utilization, interface with existing capacity-planning tools and maintain compatibility with HP OpenView, the company's current network-management solution. HP's NetMetrix applications and LanProbe monitors provided an ideal solution.
With more than 220 branch offices, Charles Schwab uses a decentralized network of six geographically dispersed service centers that have standardized on Remote Monitoring (RMON) management tools. RMON is a sophisticated Management Information Base (MIB) included in the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) standard designed for remote monitoring and network troubleshooting. NetMetrix is RMON-compliant and fully interoperable with existing embedded solutions distributed throughout Charles Schwab's workgroup environments.
"The openness of HP's network-monitoring solution was key to our decision," said Derek Archer, vice president of technologies for Charles Schwab. "We not only use NetMetrix for troubleshooting, but also to help us characterize network performance and growth, which means it has to work with existing solutions throughout our network."
Lilien Systems, a Bay Area-based systems integrator, is delivering this complete end-to-end solution. "Lilien simplified the entire process by helping us understand that while many monitoring tools perform similar functions, few are truly capable of integrating with other products and environments," said Archer.
The HP NetMetrix System supports Ethernet and token-ring networks, providing access to dedicated hardware data collectors as well as software-based power agents. The suite of applications is integrated with HP OpenView and SunNet Manager network-management platforms and includes Internetwork Monitor with new Traffic Modeler, Internetwork Response Manager, Load Monitor, Protocol Analyzer, Network File System Monitor, Traffic Generator and Enterprise Utilities. HP LanProbe monitors are hardware-based SNMP RMON-based distributed segment monitors for Ethernet and token ring with data collectors that monitor network segments. They fully implement all nine groups of the RMON MIB and provide additional MIB extensions for added functionality from HP LanProbe monitors.
Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. is a leading financial services company serving 3.3 million active accounts with over $77 billion in client assets.
Lilien Systems is a systems integrator focusing on systems and network management and distributed applications, headquartered in the Bay Area.
Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global manufacturer of computing, communications and measurement products and services recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP has 105,200 employees and had revenue of $31.5 billion in its 1995 fiscal year.
Information about HP and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com.
Additional information on products from HP's Test & Measurement Organization can be obtained on the World Wide Web via http://www.tmo.hp.com.
