All eyes on security management tools

#110 Network and systems management vendors have been on a shopping spree of sorts for some time now, and the current must-have item on their list is security information management (SIM). Following Micromuse's announcement earlier this month that it would acquire GuardedNet for $16.2 million, and Cisco's foray with Protego Networks, industry watchers speculate that the purchase might mark the beginning of the end for pure-play SIM vendors . In a recent blog post (Gartner Magic Quadrant for SIM) we examined the various pure-plays.

Acquisition isn't the only route vendors are taking to deliver SIM. Cisco also licenses SIM technology from netForensics to augment its network security plans; HP last month announced it had partnered with ArcSight to provide OpenView Compliance Manager; and storage giant EMC joined forces with SenSage to couple its Centera storage products with SenSage's event log collection and retention features. CA and IBM Tivoli separately offer stand-alone or bundled management applications that deliver SIM capabilities.

Security information should definitely be integrated with network management information in terms of common workflows and databases, and the market will consolidate," says George Hamilton, a senior analyst with The Yankee Group. "But management vendors may not be taking into account the fact that security has the steepest innovation curve of any technology out there."