In This Edition:
Four Reasons Orion Beats the Big Four
How SolarWinds Wins Against the Network
Management Giants
Recently, Bloor Research published an article entitled "Why SolarWinds wins against the network management giants."
The article got us thinking about how SolarWinds Orion® stacks up to the Big Four. It also got us talking about what we hear from our
customers - and here's what we've heard: the Big Four (we won't mention their names... if you've used their products you know who we're talking
about) provide high-priced, over-engineered products, which are generally difficult to use and almost impossible to implement without a team of
specialized, high-priced consultants and months of architecting. Sounds fun, huh?
If you don't have months to spare and can't afford a super-complex, behemoth system to get the functionality you crave, Orion might
be right for you. Orion delivers robust network performance management that is easy to install, use, and maintain and that surely won't break your
budget. Here's our take on the top four ways Orion wins against the network management giants:
1) Usability: No Need to Monitor the Monitoring System
Big Four: Unfortunately, you'll need a few full-time employees to monitor the monitoring system if you are saddled with one
of these frameworks; but never fear, you have time to hire since it will take months to get up and running.
SolarWinds: We bring an ease of use that puts the big guys to shame. Orion can be downloaded over the web, installed in a
matter of minutes and requires little to no training to get started.
2) Price Tag: Save Your Budget for Laser Tag Offsites
Big Four: Get ready to explain yourself to the CFO since these solutions range from the tens of thousands to millions - and
that doesn't even include the consultants or training you'll need to install and use them.
SolarWinds: The big guys hate it, but our customers love spending a fraction of the cost for a comprehensive network
management system that monitors an unlimited number of network devices... say hello to extra cash for that next laser tag offsite!
3) Evaluation: Be Sure to Try Before You Buy
Big Four: Planning on putting a framework into production to evaluate whether or not it works for you? We'll check back in a
few months to see how that's going. Remember the Big Four motto: "Just buy it, don't try it."
SolarWinds: It might sound like we've got attitude, but we know that you're going to love our products. That's why we offer
free 30-day trials of all of our products and support to go with it. Take Orion out for a test drive and we promise you'll like what you see.
4) Functionality: Don't Get Sold on Complexity You Won't Use
Big Four: These guys will be glad to sell you all kinds of features... but most of them you didn't ask for and don't need -
and good luck figuring out how to use them once you get the solution deployed. And, of course, you'll have to pay extra for anything but the
basics.
SolarWinds: Our features go toe to toe with the big guys. You just won't have to pay a fortune to get your hands on ours
(or read a book with an animal on the cover to figure out how to use them). Orion's functionality can be easily and affordably extended through a
series of modules to manage VoIP infrastructure, NetFlow traffic, applications, and more!
» Try Orion FREE for 30-Days
» Read the Bloor Research Article
Offshore Oil and Gas Company Sets Sail with SolarWinds
 The
Oceaneering IT organization gets to work on projects that would make any true-blooded network engineer envious. Tracking down bandwidth problems
caused by World of Warcraft® players aboard a submarine with only a 256K satellite link. Setting up live Internet video feeds from tethered
underwater robots (ROVs) two miles under the sea off the coast of Africa. See how they use Orion to maintain a global WAN, supporting 58 offices
and a head-spinning array of devices.
» Read the Case Study
 Spread the Word & Get a FREE Thwack T-shirt
Do you love our affordable, user-friendly network management products? If so, we'd like to enlist your help to spread the word about
SolarWinds... we'll even give you a free Thwack t-shirt to thank you for your time. There are lots of ways to share:
- Blog about SolarWinds
- Review a SolarWinds product on your favorite download site, like Download.com or
Tucows
- Comment on network management news articles and other blogs
- Tell us your SolarWinds story on Thwack
To claim your free t-shirt, simply visit Thwack and let us know how you spread the word: http://thwack.com/spread/
Tip: Create alerts for any IP SLA-based data to notify you of performance degradation on your VoIP infrastructure
The alerts will let you know when thresholds are violated, indicating that parameters are outside of what is considered "good" for a given
WAN link, and you can immediately troubleshoot the issue.
Go to the Advanced Alert Engine. Here, there are 5 canned alerts you can use and/or build off of. For example, if you need to alert on
jitter issues, choose VoIP - Jitter value > 30 ms from the 5 canned alerts for VoIP. (See image below)
Then edit the alert to customize to your needs by choosing the Jitter level for your alerting needs. Go to Trigger Actions for the alerting
set up you desire.
Try VoIP Monitor Free for 30 Days >
Product Updates
 TFTP Server v9.1.0.111 Addresses Root Folder
Navigation Security Vulnerability
SolarWinds has identified a root folder navigation vulnerability in all versions of the Toolset TFTP
Server prior to version 9.1.0.2 and free TFTP Server prior to version 9.1.0.111. TFTP Server is offered as a free tool downloadable from SolarWinds'
website and is included as an application within Engineer's Toolset and Standard Toolset.
» Learn More About the Vulnerability
» Download the latest TFTP Server version 9.1.0.111
» Download the Engineer's Toolset v9.1 hotfix
 Orion v8.5.1 Delivers Important Fixes & Improved Usability
Orion v8.5.1 delivers adjustments and fixes for the greatly expanded feature set that was introduced
with the v8.5 release, including improved usability of the Configuration Wizard, improved Map Maker functionality, enhancements for Advanced Alerts,
and resolution of issues with resources and user interfaces in the Web interface.
Download from the Customer
Portal >
 NetFlow Traffic Analyzer 2.2.1 Provides Adjustments & Fixes
NetFlow Traffic Analyzer 2.2.1 delivers adjustments and important fixes to the functionality that was
delivered in the 2.2 release. Additionally, 2.2.1 makes top service types available in multiple views and enables admin account views to be limited by
Groups of Nodes.
Download from the Customer
Portal >
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