NCAM (Net Centric Application Monitor) is designed to allow users of all experience levels to quickly and easily identify the state of mission critical systems.  Unlike many monitoring applications, the operation of NCAM does not require engineer-level expertise. In fact, NCAM is specifically designed to allow users of all backgrounds to immediately recognize the current state of the particular net-centric system that is important to them.

This is accomplished through a simplified system of color coded lights that indicate the current state of an application or group of applications. The green, yellow and red lighting system is repeated throughout the various interface screens, ensuring users are never presented with data in a manner that's difficult to understand.

Also, NCAM maintains a "Node Summary" that is always present on the primary NCAM interface.  This summary (shown in Figure 1) indicates how many application nodes are in each of the three states (Down, Down for Maintenance, and Up).  At a glance, users can immediately know there has been a status change regarding any monitored asset. 

NCAM takes the complex and makes it simple. For example, a net-centric "system" could easily consist of more than 50 servers in 10 countries running 20 different applications. By logically combining these applications into an NCAM "group", the status of the entire system is reduced to a single, intuitive indicator. For those who desire more information, NCAM employs an intelligent cascading system of "drill-downs" which are capable of providing an enormous amount of detail.

Fig 1. Example of Node Summary Window

Throughout NCAM, hyperlinks provide a means to obtain more information regarding node or group status.   For instance, in the example image on the right (Figure 2), a user could click the name of a node (i.e. on the image to the right, STRATCOM DNS) to drill down to view the individual node detail page.  

Hyperlinks also provide a way to organize the way information is presented to the screen.  In the example on the right, a user could click on the Node Type "DNS" to see all DNS Server nodes.

 Fig 2. Example of NCAM Interface

On the individual node drill down page shown to the right (Figure 3), users have access to a wealth of technical data as well as important contact information for that application or device.

Not only will users have immediate access to status and performance information, but they also have the names & phone numbers of the individuals responsible for node. 

Help desk personnel can watch NCAM and instantly know when a mission critical system is no longer available to users.  This gives them a head start on any corrective action needed before users even notice the outage.   

Last, but not least, NCAM provides a revolutionary interactive global mapping system (shown in Figure 4), suitable for any desktop or large screen display. By observing a real-time map, users are able to easily determine not only which application systems are up or down, but where they are actually located. Simply clicking on a site reveals details about the net-centric assets located there, including application type, group type, server name, IP address and points of contact.

Fig 3. Example of NCAM Interface