Entuity announced that a major release of its software will be generally available at the end of September 2016.

Entuity 16.5 delivers significantly enhanced multitenancy for managed service providers along with other attributes that allow enterprise networks to further consolidate and streamline their IT operations, proactively address availability and performance issues, and deepen device monitoring. Key features include the introduction of “zones” for managing overlapping IP addresses, tighter integration between the Configuration and Event Management Systems, support for VMware NSX, and enhanced VM status and performance monitoring.

Highlights of Entuity 16.5 include:

- Enhanced Multitenancy: Version 16.5 boosts Entuity’s multitenancy capabilities with the addition of IP address zones. This new feature eases management and administration by allowing devices on networks with overlapping IP address spaces to be managed from the same Entuity server. Reducing the number of Entuity servers needed to manage multiple tenants not only improves operational efficiency but lowers capital equipment costs. The use of zones is especially helpful for MSPs that manage many smaller networks and for merged companies where IP address ranges overlap.

According to Lee Walker, Entuity VP, Product Development: “Managed service providers face distinctive challenges around providing the best services to clients while retaining their margins. Entuity’s multitenancy feature has, for a long time, helped MSPs get their customers up and running quickly and manage their networks efficiently to meet key contract service levels. Entuity 16.5 raises the bar by reducing the number of servers needed to manage customer networks. In addition to significantly reducing overall server maintenance, this allows MSPs to lower their capital equipment costs and keep their margins in check for a stronger bottom line.”

- Tighter Integration Between Configuration and Events: Entuity 16.5 enables network administrators to execute configuration management tasks as Event Management System (EMS) actions, streamlining operations and improving proactive management of network issues. For example, the Configuration Management System and the EMS can work together to detect and automatically shut down a port that has been continuously flapping for more than a defined period of time, or detect a period of high utilization on a WAN and automatically enable an associated back up circuit to share the load. This release also merges Entuity’s web-based Configuration Management System with its Configuration Monitor to ease the management of large networks and enable configuration customizations.

- Expanded VM Status and Performance Monitoring: Entuity 16.5 extends VMware vCenter/ESXi support for VMs and hypervisor NICs, providing 5 minute polling of a variety of metrics, such as VM CPU (MHz) and Guest memory usage (MB). Monitoring the operational state of virtual servers along with their key resource consumption metrics satisfies a fundamental aspect of the runtime awareness necessary when managing a virtual environment.

Entuity is introducing the SurePath Realtime Path Analysis Module, now included in its flagship network management solution. SurePath shows you in less than 30 seconds the actual network paths (layers 2 and 3) your applications are using to travel across the network. With this knowledge you can tune the actual parts of the network that support your critical applications, set a preferred path as a “reference” and be alerted in case of a deviation (a potential cause of performance issues), and proactively monitor application paths. An optional integration with Entuity Network Management lets you set up automatically monitored “services” for the path/application dependency.

One SurePath user was able to solve a long-standing performance problem within hours by immediately determining that the path to and from a major SAP application was convoluted and lengthy, with numerous loop-backs. With a few simple iterations and corresponding network changes, the path was optimized, significantly improving performance, increasing productivity and boosting operational efficiency.