Since its release in January, 2009, NetMRI 3.0 has been well received by customers. Jay Ennis, Executive VP of Product Development at Netcordia, points to the user interface designed in partnership with PixelMEDIA. “… the new UI has helped us connect with customers,” says Ennis, “Wow” is a common reaction…” At the same time, Netcordia is solidifying its position in the competitive software industry and is capturing the attention of key media leaders like Red Herring, which recently named Netcordia to its annual Red Herring 100 list of America’s most promising technology companies.

A User-centered, Visual Approach
Netcordia’s NetMRI 3.0 improves the product’s Network Configuration and Change Management capabilities by providing multiple views of the network and every device connected to it, and then showing the effects of local changes on interdependent network initiatives. New diagnostic capabilities also help IT managers assess the potential impact of even the smallest changes to a network.

The new NetMRI 3.0 user interface features dashboards to
help IT managers track top problems and troubled devices, 
monitor trends, and identify the most important risks. click to enlarge

“I went to a customer six months ago and he said he loved the product, but he pulled a notebook out of a drawer and showed me all the steps he had to take to get to the feature he wanted,” said Yama Habibzai, product marketing director for Netcordia. “Over the course of the last few years, we’ve added more and more to this product. It was time to think about using a more visual approach to streamline the overall product experience for users at all levels.”

Gathering and incorporating user feedback was a key element in our approach. The Web-based interface consolidates core functionality into a set of dashboards, offering IT managers a fast, at-a-glance visualization of network performance. The dashboards show changes over time and the topology status view shows users exactly where a change took place. A combination view overlays both network health and policy compliance statuses on top of the topology map. The tabbed interface allows users to toggle quickly between different views of the network.

The redesigned NetMRI 3.0 user interface triages complex tasks into bite-size pieces. click to enlarge

When an issue is identified, users can drill down quickly using a system of logically organized “accordion” menus that replace the folder structure of previous versions and competing products. With a product as feature-rich as NetMRI 3.0, a well designed user interface helps customers maximize their return on investment by taking full advantage of everything the product has to offer.

“The new version is much better and very easy to navigate,” said Tod Isaacson, manager of network services at Loyola Marymount University. “Now, you can see several different screens at once that you had to hunt for in the past. I will use a lot more stuff that I didn’t know was there in the past because it’s now easier to find.”

For more information
Founded in 2000, Netcordia is a leading provider of network automation software to the world’s most complex and mission-critical networks. For more information, visit www.netcordia.com