Extension and Evolution of Existing Network Management Systems Over a Seamless Inter-Exchange of Host and PC Based Processors

How does one keep a Network Management System current with fast changing technology and yet build on a stable established base? This paper seeks to detail one system's approach to this difficult problem. The desire is to exploit the beneficial cost/performance tradeoffs afforded by the new generation of Personal Computers (PCs), while building on the existing base of a deployed system. The approach taken seeds to fully use the processing power of these low cost processors by moving functionality down from the host to the PC, and not just use the PC as a fancy terminal emulator.