With IT staffs shrinking even as compliance requirements swell, companies want ever more sophisticated diagnostic capabilities to protect against malicious or inadvertent network changes that can lead to costly downtime. Netcordia, an Annapolis, Md., vendor of network configuration and change management software, says its new NetMRI 3.0 offering fills that need.

“For companies to survive in this economy, they need to do more with less, yet continue to uphold strategic network initiatives, such as assuring adherence with industry regulations like PCI [payment card security], HIPPA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] and Sarbanes Oxley,” says Jim Frey, a senior analyst at Enterprise Management Associates.

Version 3.0 provides a single view of changes made to the network, showing who, when and where they were made, according to Don Pyle, Netcordia CEO. Its dashboard views also show the impact of those changes and resulting tradeoffs from policy compliance to overall network health.