Tivoli’s gain, any concrete loss?

Written by Lee and Loring February 16, 2010 Hits: 218 Favorites

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By Loring Wirbel ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) – Networking Community Co-Leader

Since I still remember the early days of Intelliden, when Dale Hecht and other refugees from MCI Worldcom decided to create a software company that could manage router and switch configurations for both large enterprises and carriers, I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for the company’s Colorado Springs core development team. Sure, the headquarters moved to Menlo Park long ago, many operations were in Belfast, but Intelliden was one of the few independent network management and systems management software companies left. Or was until Feb. 16, when IBM acquired the company as part of its Tivoli Systems software operations.

The move actually gives a boost of viability to Intelliden’s software, while giving IBM/Tivoli scalability into very large telecom networks that the company simply did not have. The thing to realize about most systems-management software companies is that they deal in fairly abstract XML constructs and Management Information Bases that often bear only a tenuous relation to the status of network equipment in a functional network. Intelliden’s software was always closer to the physical bits, one reason IBM was so interested.

No terms were disclosed, but IBM software vice president Denis Kennelly said the Intelliden name will be phased out, and all products will be marketed under the IBM/Tivoli name. Should we care? The startups in SNMP-level network management disappeared long ago. No reason to expect configuration management to be any different.

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Written by :

Lee and Loring