How about an operations oriented question. What is the current preferences amoung network operators for network inventory and configuration management tools? Not so much status monitoring (up, down) but other stuff network operator wants to know like circuit IDs (how many IDs can a circuit have?), network contacts, design layout reports (layer 1/2/3), what's supposed to be connected to that port? The stuff you can't get out of the box itself. Most ISPs seem to end up with a combination of homegrown systems, opensource, and commercial products. The commercial "integrated" systems have lots of stuff, and according to the vendors can do anything including splice fiber. CiscoWorks www.cisco.com Netcracker www.netcracker.com NetView www.tivoli.com Openview www.hp.com VitalQIP www.qip.lucent.com Visionael www.visionael.com