EdenTree debuts Lab Manager 5.0

June 15, 2006 Newbury Park, CA -- EdenTree Technologies today announced Lab Manager 5.0, a totally re-architected version of its network lab automation software. The software is significantly enhanced to be more open, scalable, and modular and includes new features such as event-based scheduling, a Web interface, and integrated power control.

Lab Manager is an open "lab operating system" that works with any kind of network equipment, managing physical layer infrastructure to which test equipment and devices under test (DUT) are connected. The result is a software-controlled lab environment with a simple, drag-and-drop user interface that allows engineers to easily and remotely design and implement topologies, say company representatives. The software includes a robust scheduler that allows topologies, configurations,
and test scripts to be scheduled; a search function to find available devices; and a reporting system that tracks device utilization. Because it is integrated with a wide range of switches, Lab Manager works in any lab with any devices and any interface types, including POTS/analog, T1/E1, DS3/E3, any rate Ethernet, optical, Fibre Channel, and RF/Coax interfaces.

A number of EdenTree's key customers have influenced the design of Lab Manager 5.0 and worked with the company to provide input into the product's features, including Hitachi Data Systems, Cisco Systems, and Verizon.

"Our customers are under increasing market pressure to ship high-quality systems on time, and it makes a huge impact on their bottom line when they can use Lab Manager to cut their test times from months to weeks or even days," contends Jay Oyakawa, EdenTree president and CEO. "We have worked very closely with some of our major customers in the storage area networking and triple-play industries on the development of Lab Manager 5.0. This release promises to increase the value proposition through new flexibility and more sophisticated user controls and functionality that result in greater test throughput and higher equipment utilization."

Easier equipment sharing

A key reason labs use Lab Manager is the ability to share expensive test equipment among multiple users and multiple test beds. Lab Manager 5.0's queue-based scheduler enhances this capability by allowing a test to be queued to run at the earliest available time based on equipment availability. Administrators can adjust the
priorities or insert a higher-priority project into the queue.

Also new to Lab Manager 5.0 is integration with power controllers allowing test engineers to control power cycling and system rebooting directly from Lab Manager. The software supports power controllers from leading vendors, including APC, Cyberswitching Inc., MRV Communications, Server Technology and WTI.

More flexible user and group level access permissions mean customers and partners can participate in the test process, while allowing the lab to keep control over test beds. Lab Manager 5.0 also has a new modular design, enabling customers to add modules for enhanced configuration management or asset management.