BIOS: Technology Means Business

Neon Software's LANsurveyor 9.5 for Windows is now available. The networking software is designed to allow administrators efficiently safeguard and monitor their networks by incorporating network documentation, asset management, network monitoring, and vulnerability management capabilities.

LANsurveyor 9.5 expands the product's feature set to include better network diagrams, new discovery methods, improved Microsoft Office Visio exports, support for Microsoft's Baseline Security Analyzer 2.0, and new Microsoft SQL Server and SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE) support. According to the company, you can now create more complete and accurate network inventories, therefore reducing errors and making strict audits easier to pass.

Regulatory acts and guidelines, including Gramm-Leach Bliley, HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, and Basel II, require organisations to restrict access to confidential information and/or enforce security policies across entire organisations. Customers can use LANsurveyor to first identify what is on their network and then safeguard and monitor the network. Neon Software claims LANsurveyor makes it much easier to comply with those requirements.

A new feature in LANsurveyor 9.5 is the Repository, which is designed to streamline the process of updating asset reports. The Repository collects information on a regular basis from workstations and servers running the optional Neon Responder client software and stores the data in a database. LANsurveyor uses either Microsoft SQL Database Engine (MSDE) or Microsoft SQL Server (either locally or across the network). LANsurveyor uses Repository data to create asset data reports (Custom Reports, Software Inventory Reports, and so on) for nodes, even if they are offline.

LANsurveyor now uses CDP (Cisco Discovery Protocol) and LLDP (Link Layer Discovery Protocol) to provide more information about discovered nodes and features new switch-to-switch algorithms that improve discovery of complicated networks, and new Microsoft Office Visio exports include support for customised logos, titles, and a legends.

LANsurveyor 9.5 is now available from Neon Software resellers, distributors, and Neon Software's Web site. The software, which can map any sized LAN or WAN, costs $795 (£450). Neon Responders, the LANsurveyor client software used for asset management, reporting, and management, are available in add-on packs for between $9 and $20 per node, depending upon quantity purchased. Continuous Scan IDS, a $495 add-on, lets you view intrusions network-wide from a single computer, even across switches.