industry spotlight

Retail

At this time of year, the pressure really is on retailers to deliver. For e-tailers that exist in cyberspace alone, no or slow network means zero revenue and a blacklist customer reputation. Bricks and mortar businesses are equally network reliant with IT systems handling increased loads with on-line checkouts, stock handling, logistics and web-services combining right into the New Year sales.

No successful retailer enters the festive season without its networking house in order, which is why some of the biggest organisations rely on Highlight throughout the year to ensure systems are in the best possible condition. Highlight underpins major retailers across the industry, from the most famous department stores to 1,000 outlet high-street chemist and bookstore brands, from travel agents and hotel chains taking bookings for Christmas getaways to music stores handling bumper download sales.

System usage figures from Highlight show that retail IT teams are accessing Highlight throughout each day reviewing links from ADSL to Gigabit Ethernet to confirm no flagged issues are infrastructure related. Clear load, usage and health graphics speak volumes and ensure a profitable Christmas and a smooth transition into the New Year.

notworking

Junk Charts

The anonymous artist behind the Junk Charts blog loves practical statistics, data visualization, web analytics and right-brain marketing. He hates poorly presented information, obfuscation, over-illustration, sloppy diagrams and any form of chart junk. His mission is to expose and ridicule confusing visual representation in business and the media while praising transparent illustration of facts. It's a great site and will make you think twice next time you're churning out PowerPoint!

welcome

...to your November issue of The Monthly Highlight, a regular newsletter created exclusively for NetEvidence customers, partners, and users of our core product, Highlight.

This month our IndustrySpotlight falls on Retail as businesses brace themselves for the seasonal boom, we show you how to verify connection speeds in Highlight Update and introduce Meeting Point Invitation in our FeatureFocus.  There's also a regular look at some of the more interesting network industry news headlines from the past month, plus an insight into how ineffective visual presentation of information is often used to mislead and compound statistical 'fibs', in our NotWorking section.

As ever, please feel free to get in touch with me to discuss any of the items in this newsletter of share any ideas you have for The Monthly Highlight. I hope you enjoy reading this latest issue.  

Best regards,

- Jeremy

Jeremy Edwards, NetEvidence services director
jedwards@net-evidence.com

network news

ISPs must evolve to survive

UK service providers are under greater pressure to differentiate services as consumer demand for broadband lines continues to slow, if the latest research from analyst firm Point Topic is to be believed. Figures show uptake of broadband lines at 1.64m in the first half of 2006, 1.5m in the second half and 1.39m in the first half of this year. One obvious reason for this slow in growth is that most dial-up users wanting to have now converted to broadband, but Point Topic also believes some consumers are still put off by poor service, difficulties in adoption, and ISPs not delivering on speed promises. On the plus side, it also points to deeper market penetration in older age groups and a slight revival in growth rate overall during the third quarter of 2007. Total broadband lines by 2012 are expected to reach 21m, including 2m business connections.

WiMax faces next-generation competition

Successful tests of a rival 4G mobile networking technology to WiMax, called LTE (Long Term Evolution) or SAE (System Architecture Evolution), were conducted this month. Representing the next evolution of the GSM architecture, LTE or SAE has the backing of the 3GPP (Third-Generation Partnership Project) as well as some of the biggest mobile carriers and handset manufacturers. According to the LTE/SAE Trial Initiative (LSTI), peak data rates for the technology in these early deployments have hit 100Mbps downstream and 50Mbps upstream, per channel. This would deliver realistic shared connectivity of between 2Mbps and 10Mbps in 2010, a Yankee Group analyst told Techworld. WiMax looks certain to be deployed more rapidly, resulting in either market dominance or a short shelf life.

Big Blue snaps up Cognos

IBM has bought Business Intelligence (BI) vendor Cognos for $5billion (£2.44bn) in cash. The move continues consolidation in the BI and performance management software market that has seen Oracle buy Hyperion, Business Objects buy Cartesis and ALG Software, SAP buy Business Objects, Cognos buy Applix, and now this latest acquisition. Network World believes the move will be a blow to HP which offers a BI platform built with Cognos products.

feature focus

Meeting Point Invitation:
A problem shared

How often does a situation arise that would be great to share with other Highlight users? Often when there is an issue, an opportunity or a discovery, it is best to get another pair of eyes to take a look.

This month NetEvidence launches Highlight's 'Meeting Point Invitation' capability. It allows any incidents discovered in Highlight to be shared quickly and easily with Technical Support, colleagues, other departments or partners with just a click.

Highlight's 'Send an Invitation' button will send emails to chosen contacts complete with message, exact network link, date and view in invitation shortcuts, so that other users can go directly to a particular example when they next login. It is simple and free to request new Highlight user accounts too.

Click here to watch the online demo for more information, and then look for the new button next time you login to Highlight.

highlight update

DSL: A Moving Target

Just how fast are those DSL lines? Increasingly, ADSL connectivity is based on the DSL-Max standard, providing faster upload speeds than standard ADSL while automatically choosing the best line speeds for each link to give users optimum performance every time. This appeals to businesses running bandwidth-hungry services like VoIP, video streaming or application hosting.

But there is one problem. Speed doesn't settle down until lines have been running for ten days and may change again if devices are replaced, restarted or reconfigured. It's hard to know exactly what bandwidth is available, and how much of that is being used without constantly checking and impractical resetting of the management platform.

Highlight can now take on all this work without fuss. Highlight's 'DSL Rate Discovery' feature will check the true speed of every DSL line on a daily basis and update reports accordingly, delivering accurate data and satisfied users.

highlight archive

You can access previous issues of highlight by following this link.

how do I get highlight?

NetEvidence provides Highlight in a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model through partnerships with service and solutions providers (http://www.net-evidence.com/web/site/Partners/partnersTab.asp), who provide performance visibility to their customers.

If you're interested in more information about Highlight, or need your login details resetting, please email support@net-evidence.com and we will liaise to action your request.

unsubscribe

This email was sent to [merge:EmailAddress]. If you would like to unsubscribe from this newsletter please click [lunsub:"here"], or if you are experiencing any problems receiving or viewing it, please contact newsletter@net-evidence.com.

disclaimer

You are receiving this newsletter as a reseller or user of NetEvidence's Highlight solution. If you want to stop receiving this newsletter, please click [lunsub:"here"]. NetEvidence is aware of its responsibilities regarding the Data Protection Act and will not share any of your personal information with third parties without your explicit authorisation.