Great Circle Waypoints

On 7 Mar 05, Opsware (the company formerly known as Loudcloud, which Marc Andreessen founded after he left Netscape) announced that its Opsware Network Automation System 4.0 would be available beginning 21 Mar 05.

Interesting tidbits from the press release:

• "The Opsware Network Automation System is based on Rendition Networks' award-winning TrueControl product, which Opsware acquired in February 2005."
  
• "Opsware NAS 4.0 moves beyond simple network change and configuration management to offer complete network automation including change automation, compliance management, process automation, security administration and reporting around all these operational activities."
  
• "Opsware NAS 4.0 includes key automation capabilities ... such as the ability to automate processes that span different IT groups and systems and an advanced Compliance Center for compliance management. ... The Compliance Center includes automated auditing and reporting for Sarbanes-Oxley, ITIL, HIPAA and COBIT."
  

Uplogix offers a product named the Envoy, which is a device to help automate management of network devices such as routers and switches. You attach Envoy units to the serial consoles of your network devices (each Envoy can manage up to 4 devices), and use in-band or out-of-band access to manage those devices through the Envoy.