Web Based Enterprise Management

Currently, many companys including Cisco, Compaq, Intel and Microsoft are working on a very interesting framework. ``Web-based Enterprise Management'' (WBEM) is one of the main reasons why web based network management products like the one we just saw, will probably become very important in the near future.

The key purpose of the WBEM initiative is to consolidate and unify the data provided by existing management technologies. The focus is on solving real enterprise issues by allowing problem areas to be tracked from end to end -- from the user/application level through the systems and network layers to remote service/server instances. However, WBEM does not attempt to replace existing management standards such as SNMP or CMIP, but it provides a framework into which those techniques fit.

The networking hardware will be only one part of the managed objects in a networked enterprise. Obviously it will be very easy to integrate existing web based network management applications in such a framework, therefore the effort seems to be a good investment in the future.