This week, the network management space was a relatively busy one. Let's take a look at some of the top stories as reported by TMCnet.

First up, KEMP Technologies added the Edge Security Pack (ESP) to its LoadMaster family of application delivery controllers, allowing companies to better protect application workload servers from unauthorized access. In support of this, ESP is being offered as part of LoadMaster completely free until the end of August. According to KEMP, the addition of ESP helps fill the security gap left by the sale of Microsoft's (News - Alert) ForefrontTMG.

Next, Smith Micro Software released a new user-friendly toolkit, dubbed NetWise I/O, meant to make deploying ANDSF solutions easier. Specifically, NetWise I/O's OMA-DM-based client helps in ANDSF deployment by authenticating interoperability between network infrastructure and mobile devices, while also validating ANDSF policies in the business cycle. The toolkit can even support extensions to the ANDSF standard, facilitating advanced traffic management capabilities for operators.

In other news, Array Networks was named in the Magic Quadrant for WAN Optimization Controllers by Gartner (News - Alert). The company's aCelera WAN optimization controller specifically was recognized by the research firm for its ability to provide improved efficiency and security features for cloud and enterprise applications. Most of all, the controller was singled out for its variety of price points, allowing smaller businesses to leverage its support.

Meanwhile, TMCnet contributing writer Oliver VanDervoot, citing a recent study, examined the performance issues that have popped up by the increasing number of applications used in the enterprise. According to more than half of the study's participants, application slowness and non-responsiveness are becoming more frequent. For businesses that rely on the cloud, this can indeed be a major issue. However, there are solutions to these issues, VanDervoot points out, particularly IT departments maintaining a tighter grip on their applications.

Likewise, TMCnet Web editor Blaise McNamee examined the role of network management tools in the increasingly complex modern network. Rather than constantly scale a network up to meet the needs of its devices and users, he posits, companies should look to intelligent system architectures and dynamic data hierarchies, promoting efficient software and hardware interoperability and avoiding bottlenecks.

With this kind of network management system, like that offered by WebNMS, companies have gone from 200 to between 2,000 and 3,000 traps per second, polling millions of devices every 15 minutes and supporting simultaneous access for over 100 users.

That's all for this week, but check out the Network Management Channel for more news in this space.