Hewlett-Packard (HP) is targeting Internet service providers (ISPs) with a suite of business management applications to help monitor and manage the status of the network.
Firehunter monitors service quality, diagnoses trouble spots and uses data mining to track past system performance.
Firehunter was beneficial to customer service staff, company managers and, most importantly, operations staff, Chuck Darst, ISP product manager of HP's NetMetrix division, said.
When HP was in the process of developing the product, it posed ISP employees with the 'beer truck' question.
Staff were asked which of their colleagues they would least want to see get hit by a beer-delivery truck - a light-hearted, if not roundabout, way to discover which department was considered the most important. Operators topped the list because of their innate knowledge of the company network.
Operations staff told HP they needed software tools to make their jobs easier, Mr Darst said, adding that some systems operators had not taken vacations in two years because of their crucial role.
Firehunter's software tools enable operators to view, in real time, the status of the network presented in graphical tables. This allowed them to monitor ISP services such as e-mail, news and Web services.