As the sand runs out on the hourglass of 2012 and we look ahead to 2013, we see that the technology sector is just as busy as ever. Each and every day there are new announcements and innovations. This especially holds true in the network management space. Here are some of the top stories from the past week!

First came the news that iPass (News - Alert), Inc., an enterprise high-speed wide area networking platform and Wi-Fi services provider, will provide managed network services to the Hallmark greeting card company. "Our team is extremely proud of the long-standing partnership with Hallmark. The retail network solution we have designed, deployed and manage for Hallmark is the result of a deep understanding of their business environment and technical requirements. Like Hallmark, many of our customers are looking for ways to evolve their networks and accommodate the changing demands of today's business -- demands for higher bandwidth, improved security, better network performance, integrated mobility and managed Wi-Fi. We look forward to our continued relationship with Hallmark, evolving to meet their networking needs, and helping them succeed with their business goals," said Chris Linden, vice president and general manager, iPass Managed Network Services.

Next came the news that ActionPacked! Networks had been recognized with a 2012 INTERNET TELEPHONY Product of the Year Award. ActionPacked!’s LiveAction solution offers a network topology view that provides unique end-to-end flow visualization of live traffic across the network. “Being selected Product of the Year is a huge honor for ActionPacked! as the award recognizes LiveAction’s capabilities to enable network engineers to literally see flows, routes, and QoS policies in real-time in a quick and easy graphical interface that would otherwise be difficult to conceptualize using command-line sources,” said Dana Matsunaga, president and CEO of the company.

Finally this week, Dan Joe Barry, vice president at Napatech (News - Alert), took a look toward 2013 as he outlined his top three network management predictions for the coming year. Barry foresees an increased focus on network management, including end-to-end network visibility, quality of experience management and customer experience management. He also sees the acceleration of networks from 1G to 10G, 40G and even 100G. Additionally, Barry thinks that 2013 will be a big year for software defined networking.

There you have it! It’s been an exciting week in the network management space. Check back with TMC (News - Alert) soon for more news!

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