Alcatel-Lucent releases VitalQIP 7.3

We are pleased to announce the general availability of VitalQIP 7.3. This is a significant update and contains the following enhancements:

• New web based GUI design and implementation
• New search engine
• Enhanced visual IP space
• Deprecation of the Traditional "Thick" Client
• ENUM Manager Integration in VitalQIP
• DHCP Client_id (option 61) support
• Single screen DHCP/DNS server creation
• Error protection
• Bug Fixes

VitalQIP 7.3 is available to download from our FTP server - please ask our helpdesk for download credentials if you do not know them already. You will need to request a new license key before the product will start.

Due to the significant number of changes involved, we would suggest running 7.3 in a lab environment first to gain familiarity with it before upgrading your live environment. We would also be happy to demonstrate this new version to you. Please contact us if you are interested.

The biggest change in VitalQIP 7.3 is the GUI. Alcatel-Lucent have extended a huge amount of time and effort to give the GUI a new look and feel, improving performance, reducing the number of mouse clicks and eliminating unnecessary pop-ups in order to make it an altogether more pleasing experience.

Screen shots do not really do the new GUI any justice, however, to give you a taster of the new GUI, here are a couple of screen shots (click to get bigger version in new window):

Object Management utilises new web technology in order to provide a better experience

New Visual IP Space feature provides simplified access to non-technical users

Another area that has been improved is the search functionality. Previously it was necessary to perform multiple seperate searches if you wanted to search for a name within an object, resource record, node or other record type. Now it is possible to define a search profile that specifies which fields are searched, and that search profile can be used to perform a single search and report all matches in one simple step. Search results can also now be exported to CSV.

VitalQIP's error protection features have also been enhanced to provide warnings and tips in real time when erroneous data has been entered or required data is missing, for instance, if a required UDA is missing, the field will turn red and a warning will indicate that the field is required.

Under the covers, work has been done to improve DNS & DHCP generation times and in testing we have seen DHCP generation times reduced from 5 minutes to 16 seconds compared with VitalQIP 7.2PR2.

All in all, VitalQIP 7.3 demonstrates a significant improvement in usability and performance. Please feel free to contact me if you require a demostration.

Paul Roberts

Technology & Solutions Development Manager