What are Cisco's top network-management challenges?

Users, analysts, consultants and third-party vendors have expanded on this wish list. Blogger Michael Morris, a communications team lead and network architect at a US$3 billion high-tech company says that as a Cisco customer, he would like to see a better user interface for Cisco IOS software.

"Cisco user interfaces seem like they are outsourced to high-school kids learning how to code Java to use 100 percent CPU at all times," Morris says, suggesting that Cisco hire someone from Apple to improve its GUIs.

A management platform that integrates all of the "cool" network management features of IOS, such as NetFlow, IP SLAs, SNMP, Generic Online Diagnostics (GOLD) and Call Home, would be an improvement, Morris says. GOLD defines a common framework for diagnostics operations across Cisco platforms running IOS; Call Home provides e-mail-based and Web-based notification of critical system events. Some of this integration now is provided by third parties.

Also on the IOS front, Cisco can do a better job providing IOS version tracking, says Yankee Group analyst Zeus Kerravala.

Customers might still be running versions of IOS that are one or two major releases behind the most current release, and they might require ad hoc patches and updates. It may never be possible for Cisco to release a network management program that accommodates each and every release or version of IOS in use. "It's not uncommon for customers to have hundreds of versions of IOS running," Kerravala says. "So, it's really difficult to know at any moment in time which devices have which operating system on it, which revision level they're at. I think the biggest thing they need to address is IOS management," he says.

The tracking issue already is being addressed, Cisco's Sage says. "That's actually where we benefit a lot from the CiscoWorks infrastructure tools," she says. “Every operating system and every version is modeled in there and tracked. So, we even have things that can alert customers to when certain IOS releases are out of date, or when there's [a security alert] issued. Our management tools can identify if there's any impact in the network. It's very sophisticated tracking, process and documentation," she adds.

CiscoWorks could use some improving, however, especially in the user interface, according to blogger Larry Chaffin, chairman, CEO and founder of Pluto Networks, a consulting company specializing in VoIP, wireless LAN and security associated with Cisco networks.

"The biggest knock I hear from people is that they just don't like CiscoWorks," Chaffin says. "Sometimes it's hard and cumbersome. And the Cisco [network-access control] interface is very hard. They need to make things much easier for customers with the management interfaces."