Sharon Fisher Product Report 7 January 2004 Nortel Networks Optivity Policy Services Summary Optivity Policy Services is system-level software for managing the traffic prioritization and network access security parameters for business applications in the enterprise networking environment. Table of Contents Overview Analysis Optivity Policy Services Pricing Competitors Strengths Limitations Insight List Of Tables Table 1: Overview: Nortel Networks Optivity Policy Services Table 3: Price List: Nortel Networks Optivity Policy Services Gartner Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.
Corporate Headquarters Nortel Networks 8200 Dixie Road, Suite 100 Brampton, ON L6T 5P6, Canada Tel: +1 905 863 0000; 1 800 4NORTEL (1 800 466 7835) Fax: +1 905 452 4444 Internet: www.nortelnetworks.com Overview Table 1: Overview: Nortel Networks Optivity Policy Services Model Optivity Policy Services (OPS) Version 3.1. Product Type Policy Services management application. Product Function Policy creation, management and audit for quality of service (QOS) and network access security parameters for Nortel Networks enterprise routers and switches. Platform Supported Solaris 2.8, Windows NT 4.0 Server and Windows 2000 Server. Client can also run on Windows NT 4.0 Workstation, 2000 Professional or Windows 98. Databases SunOne Directory Server. Supported Base Price (US$) 11,995. Target Market Small to large corporations, integrated service providers. Feature Creation and Provisioning of QOS and Security Policies Function Network managers can combine traffic condition attributes when setting policy conditions. A filter preview dialogue summarizes the filters that will be generated for a particular policy, improving the reliability of policy settings. The Nortel Networks product for QOS is based on DiffServ. This simplifies resource reservations throughout the network by defining a consistent per-hop behavior for aggregate flow classes. Classes are defined based on attributes such as QOS service levels, bandwidth requirements and delay sensitivity. With DiffServ, traffic is classified at the network edge. OPS 3.1 from Nortel Networks manages the rules for network behavior associated with QOS and security priorities. OPS enables consistent systemwide configuration of these policies, reducing the complexity and cost of maintaining an operational QOS/security system. This type of product is most useful when implementing IP telephony or other bandwidth or delay-sensitive applications. A mark IP Telephony function means that the Nortel Networks devices are preconfigured with default mappings for high-performance voice services. The Optivity Policy Services software reads these default mappings and creates an IP telephony policy that marks and meters the voice traffic. That policy can then be implemented on other devices throughout the network with the mouse. 7 January 2004 2
Feature The Closed Loop Analysis Function Verifies the Impact of Policies on Network Performance Filter/Policy Import Utility Filter Change Alert End-to-End Network QOS Provisioning Function OPS provides reports on policy status, including: Common Open Policy Service (COPS) connection status Filters applied within a device and their associated actions Number of filters implemented on a device Preliminary filter statistics for devices that support filter counters Number of packets and byte counts for each filter installed on a device This function helps to reduce errors and ensure correct policy definition. OPS discovers interfaces on the devices and enables a filter review following deployment to networked devices. The Server Reporting View in OPS shows the status of the policy downloads and the device connections to assist in troubleshooting policy deployment problems. Optivity Policy Services alarms and statistics are integrated into the Optivity Network Management System for correlation of policy violations with other network problems. Optivity Network Management System is then used to troubleshoot and diagnose the problem before application performance is affected. The Filter/Policy Import utility retrieves information from the filter table in a network device. This raw filter data is then converted into policy objects using a wizard application in OPS. A network manager then rationalizes these policy objects into a defined policy. Once defined, this policy can be provisioned to similar devices from the OPS management console. For customers that have previously deployed and manually provisioned policies on Nortel Networks devices, this utility eases the transition to a centrally managed and controlled policy-provisioning model. The Filter Change Alert function enhances network security by alerting the network or security administrator whenever the actual network/device state is inconsistent with the OPS expected state. This function enables managers to track and correct unauthorized filter changes that could constitute a security breach or result in degradation in network performance. Optivity Policy Services helps simplify traffic prioritization based on pre-defined rules or policies. The OPS software supports these dynamic policies in both COPS Usage for Policy Provisioning (COPS-PR) and non-cops-pr (Common Language Infrastructure [CLI]-based) devices. Optivity Policy Services can identify traffic flows for a variety of applications and services. It can then mark the flows for priority based on the following information: Source or destination IP address Source or destination IP port IPprotocol Inbound DiffServ Code Point Virtual local-area network (VLAN) ID VLAN Tag User-specified 802.1p prioritization 7 January 2004 3
Feature Network Security Provisioning Function Optivity Policy Services supports advanced traffic prioritization. This gives network managers the ability to priority mark, police and meter traffic. The and/or logic support enables network managers to combine traffic condition attributes. For instance, IP Telephony traffic is always given a high priority, but some IP Telephony devices are deemed to be more critical. Examples are call center agents, collaborative applications, executive offices or conference rooms. A combination of traffic type, IP Telephony and user ID is combined to create a super-class that receives a higher priority. The filter preview dialogue summarizes the filters that will be generated for a particular policy. This improves the reliability of policy settings. For edge routers running BayRS* software, uniform resource locators (URLs) can be matched, and deep-packet filtering can be defined for specific application performance needs. Optivity Policy Services includes security provisioning that helps network managers protect network and application assets. By applying consistent security policies across a Nortel Networks environment, OPS complements existing firewall implementations and Internet Protocol-Virtual Private Networks (IP-VPNs) by adding an extra layer of protection to network resources. Policies can be created to restrict traffic through a particular network device or to deny all traffic on a particular device. Control of this traffic is provisioned on a device by creating admissions policies through the central console. Establishing policies that meter traffic can prevent denial of service attacks. For example, many denial-of-service attacks occur when too many packets of a certain protocol type (such as Internet Control Message Protocol [ICMP]) flood a device. With OPS, network managers can design and deploy policies to control dangerous traffic flows network or security managers can select multiple device objects and synchronize the device data implementing the access security changes in a single step. Analysis In 2003 Nortel Networks announced a strategy to address the network and service management needs of its enterprise users. The strategy focused on lower total cost of ownership by delivering management and troubleshooting tools, including applications optimization, Voice over IP (VoIP) and network convergence, IP-Video, multicast and collaborative services, security, IP-VPN and Wireless local-area network (WLAN). With a workflow approach to managing network infrastructure and services, it helps to improve availability and adaptability of enterprise networks. In addition, it recognizes that enterprise customers require a multidevice, multivendor solution and is focused on delivering the tools and capabilities that enable enterprises to scale and evolve their network without compromising security. For IP telephony, Nortel is building in the capabilities and working with NetIQ to deliver Proactive Voice Quality Monitoring (PVQM) regardless of the underlying network infrastructure. Users implementing VoIP over a Nortel infrastructure may also use Optivity Policy Services for establishing and managing QOS and access security parameters on their Nortel infrastructure. Optivity Policy Services Optivity Policy Services 3.1 shipped in February 2003 with updates to device support and new capabilities such as: 7 January 2004 4
Filter/Policy Import utility. It retrieves information from the filter table in a network device. This raw filter data is then converted into policy objects using a wizard application in OPS. Filter Change Alert. This function enhances network security by alerting the network or security administrator whenever the actual network/device state is inconsistent with the OPS expected state. For delay-sensitive applications, such as IP Telephony, the Nortel Networks switching devices are pre-configured with default mappings for high-performance voice services. The Optivity Policy Services auto-qos software reads these default mappings and creates an IP telephony policy that marks and meters the voice traffic. Optivity Policy Services 3.1 supports Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0 (server and client) and Windows 98 (client only) as well as Solaris 2.8. A client/server architecture makes OPS scalable to up to 20,000 nodes for large organizations. Pricing Table 3: Price List: Nortel Networks Optivity Policy Services Product Base Price (US$) OPS 3.1 Software (250 device) 11,995 Upgrade OPS with additional 250 devices 4,000 Education Discount Yes Leasing No Multicopy Discount No Site License No Pricing as of November 2003. GSA Pricing Yes. Competitors Avaya CajunRules Cisco QOS Policy Manager Packeteer PacketShaper (although this is a hardware-based product) Strengths One-Click QOS and Security Provisioning Optivity Policy Services supports a policy management architecture for the Enterprise suite of Nortel Networks products. This includes creation, provisioning and audit of both QOS and Security policies for wired and wireless networks. With the increasing complexities introduced by new applications, protocols and services on the network, this capability is critical to maintaining performance, availability and costeffectiveness in today s enterprise networks. Offers Voice Support Optivity Policy Services was the first policy management product to offer voice support. Wider Directory Support 7 January 2004 5
Nortel supports the directories of Microsoft, Novell and Sun, whereas some competitors products support a subset of these. Limitations No Third-Party Device Support Optivity Policy Services does not support devices from other networking vendors, although it works into third-party First Alert and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)-based systems. Lacks Framework While this is something on which Nortel is working, Nortel has many of the point products but lacks a cohesive marketing strategy and overall systems framework for applying them. Insight Nortel s product, like those from competitors Avaya and Cisco, is intended primarily for its own customers and equipment, to be provided from a one-stop shop. Nortel shops that are considering policy management software should look at this product. The pricing and features are comparable to those of its competitors, while providing additional functionality in the area of IP telephony. 7 January 2004 6