Tips for Network Monitoring & Management

Much is in the news lately concerning advances in Carrier Ethernet technology. Network infrastructure build-out is continuing at a rapid pace on every continent, with some of the biggest growth taking place in the Middle East and Africa. In addition, domestic U.S. service provider infrastructure continues to grow as the insatiable consumer demand for more services such as video, apps and on-demand media content (at ever faster speeds) seems to know no bounds. For example, Light Reading has reported that Comcast will soon be rolling out their new Metro Ethernet service in over 20 major U.S. markets.

Business and governments are also growing their infrastructure at a dizzying pace. What a lot of people don't know is that technologies such as Ethernet and MPLS are also applicable for environments in enterprise and government as well as Service Providers. Because network bandwidth needs are growing at every level - from individuals using tablets and smartphones to increasingly robust Service Level Agreements (SLAs) at the carrier level - managing network change and unified communications is a more complex task than ever before.

Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) networks are an attractive alternative for providing Virtual Private Network (VPN) services to your customers. Deploying a variety of IP VPN services in a multi-vendor environment is still challenging, however. Configuring VPN appliances individually for each account limits the scope of services you can offer and the number of clients you can handle. To stay competitive, you must find a way to automate the configuration of VPNs so they can be deployed fast, while still guaranteeing configuration accuracy in order to attain the top VPN performance your customers demand.



The Redcell MPLS Infrastructure Management Solution is a flexible tool that allows you to deploy all types of MPLS-based IP VPN services including Layer 3, Layer 2, and VPLS. Redcell handles the entire lifecycle of VPN services from initial configuration and deployment to daily administration and maintenance, as well as availability and performance monitoring.

If you'd like to learn out more, please email us at info@doradosoftware.com or contact us through our web form.
Thanks for reading!

One of the things we're proud of at Dorado Software is our long history of creating OEM element management systems (EMS) for leading manufacturers.

The new NETGEAR ProSafe® Network Management System (NMS200) gives customers a way to discover, configure, monitor and manage all NETGEAR Layer 2 and Layer 3 switches on their network from a simple, single interface. The ProSafe® 24-port 10 GE Managed L2+ Switch (XSM7224S) provides 10 Gbps server performance and scalability across the network. The ProSafe Network Management System will be expanded in future releases to manage other NETGEAR products.



"Mid-sized firms are in an awkward position when it comes to the use of advanced technology," said Ray Boggs, vice president of Small/Medium Business Research at IDC. "They have large company needs without large company staff and budgets, yet they can no longer get by on the basic resources used by small businesses. Coordination of different IT components is a major challenge, with network communications, storage, and security all in need of alignment, especially as new cloud and hosted resources become more powerful and more affordable. Technology providers and their reseller partners have a real opportunity to help mid-sized firms enhance and coordinate their core technology to sharpen performance and productivity."

Over 18 million businesses worldwide have broken free of the limitations of traditional enterprise vendors and deployed NETGEAR networking, storage and security solutions. To date, NETGEAR has delivered more than 700 petabytes of storage, 120 million Ethernet ports and two million firewalls to businesses and its 36,000 partners worldwide.

ProSafe Network Management System (NMS200)

The new NETGEAR ProSafe Network Management System is designed specifically for IT managers who want a cohesive tool to manage the NETGEAR devices on their network. It's the first unified management platform that can provide customers control across NETGEAR switching, wireless, storage and security products on the network. Available in October, it will handle NETGEAR's managed switches. NETGEAR plans to extend in subsequent releases the management of NETGEAR's smart switches, wireless, storage and security products.

The new NMS200 provides monitoring and configuration functionality for improved ease-of-use. From the moment a business user sets it up, the software automatically discovers supported NETGEAR products and brings them online so their performance can be managed and monitored 24x7. It comes with a single, simple console for extensive visibility, granular control and seamless automation across an entire business network.

"Collaboration" is a big buzz-word these days - but what exactly does it mean? Along with the word "cloud," this is probably one of the most talked-about - but least understood - concepts in the tech world today. Network management personnel in both the Enterprise and Service Provider spaces are all wanting to get a piece of the efficiency, problem-solving ability and cost savings that collaboration provides. At the same time, there are vendors out there making promises and claims that are sky-high. At Dorado Software, we are already seeing our customers reap the benefits of collaboration using our new RC7 Synergy platform. For example:

• Real-time communication of individuals and teams through secure web portal (network problems are solved in real-time) means teams can work together and break through traditional silos
• One single common interface for monitoring and managing services and devices (no sloppy, separate tools to manage your network - and no need to waste a bunch of time on training)
• Role-based content delivery for individuals and groups (on the RC7 Synergy platform, users see only information that pertains to them). This results in increased security and less "information overload" for your workforce
• Multiple language support (in today's world, teams need to be able to communicate faster and more clear with each other than ever before). Flexibility is a "must-have" feature in Web 2.0-style collaboration

We'll go into some of these collaboration benefits in more detail with later posts. There are more, but network management is not an easy thing to understand so we'll take it piece by piece. In the meantime, to help people learn more about the benefits of collaboration I've put together this quick, 5-minute video:



Want to learn more? Please email or contact us and we'll be happy to answer any questions!

More about RC7:
Redcell Applications
Resource Management
Monitoring
Service Provisioning & Activation

Interface Support
SNMPv1/v2/v3, Proprietary Device CLI,
XML, SSH, WMI, CIM, Web Services,
HTTP/S

Complete IT Asset Management
Routers, Switches, Security Devices,
Servers, Storage, Networked Printers

Device Support Examples
Cisco, Dell, EMC, Brocade, Juniper,
Extreme, Foundry, HP, Windows, Linux

Remember that old adage about "the only constant in the universe is change?" Well one of the great things about working at a software company is - and in the network infrastructure management space to be exact - is that this industry is change on steroids.

Case in point: one of our global strategic partners, Symantec. Not too long ago Symantec acquired Altiris, which is why for awhile we called that component of our software the "Symantec-Altiris" solution. After awhile people started dropping the "Altiris," which is fine except there are many enterprises who have built their entire network around this solution.
Enter Symantec SMP (Symantec Management Platform) 7.1 - and with it, the Dorado Software integration component. What's the difference? For starters, Dorado's Redcell v7 (RC7) platform works with SMP 7.1 (NS7.1) to give you visibility into your network and storage infrastructure - specifically, informing you how the network is affecting applications, servers and clients.

The combined solution delivers the power of applications, systems, multi- vendor network and storage assets, inventory, configuration, and connectivity knowledge - all from within the SMP. 

RC 7 Synergy brings unprecedented power to collaborate. Team members can solve problems faster, better, together.

To see a demo of RC7 and Symantec in action together, please contact:
symantec@doradosoftware.com

or visit our website, www.doradosoftware.com

Maybe not a giant surprise, at least to people who work in the industry. What IS a surprise (to me, at least) is the incredible pace of growth, even in "global recessionary conditions". So this incredible growth of pace is BEAUTIFUL news for Dorado Software customers, partners and resellers: A continued affirmation of our strategy and commitment to supporting the growth of the planet's global IT mobility infrastructure.

For example: Today, Ingram CEO Greg Spierkel told a crowd of 350 solution providers at the VentureTech Spring Invitational conference in Chicago that Ingram's "focus into 2011 and beyond lies in cloud computing, mobility and data center solutions" (full disclosure: Ingram is a Dorado Software reseller). In addition to the focus on the cloud and mobility, Spierkel said, "Last year the overall IT market through distribution increased 14 percent in North America. Those are numbers we haven't seen in the market in a long time." He also said a corporate refresh of more traditional IT solutions is also helping solution providers and that should continue too - and believes we're about two-thirds through a significant IT purchasing cycle that should last another six months to a year.

• Global mobile data traffic grew 2.6-fold in 2010, nearly tripling for the third year in a row. The 2010 mobile data traffic growth rate was higher than anticipated. Last year's forecast projected that the growth rate would be 149 percent. This year's estimate is that global mobile data traffic grew 159 percent in 2010.

• Global mobile data traffic will increase 26-fold between 2010 and 2015. Mobile data traffic will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 92 percent from 2010 to 2015, reaching 6.3 exabytes per month by 2015.

We encourage you to check out the eye-opening Cisco report. And if you're looking for bleeding-edge software to manage your network, we encourage you to ask us about Redcell.

Service Providers are constantly looking for ways to speed delivery to market without compromising quality. Automation is the only way to effectively accomplish this task. Manual solutions and CLI are labor intensive and error prone which results in lost revenue and customer dissatisfaction.

A single system to automate repeatable processes not only makes the fulfillment process significantly quicker but also eliminates costly errors. But it can't stop there. Once services are deployed, customers frequently need to change their service. For example a customer may require more bandwidth, or a different configuration. Redcell allows service providers to react quickly and efficiently to these customer needs. The result is delivering services to the end user faster, and with higher level of quality. 

Let's take a look at a graphical representation of the Redcell solution for service fulfillment:

• Common interface across multiple services 
• Track associations between services & customers/subscribers or network resources through the CMDB 
• Unified Service Provisioning 
• Transaction Model 
• Auditing of All Service Transactions 
• Service Templates 
• Service Preview 
• Integration with Pools 
• Service Quick Views 
• Tools to extend existing services or model & rapidly deploy new services 

• Proactive device/service health monitoring 
• Service Diagnostics (OA&M) 
• Data Collection and associated formulas and metrics for collected data 
• Performance Dashboards 
• Prepackaged Monitors 

• MPLS L2 E-Line Circuits (Point-to-Point) 
• MPLS L2 E-LAN Services (Multipoint) 
• MPLS L3 E-LAN/E-Tree Services/IP VPNs R 
• Configuration – Change – OAM 
• Redcell Resource Management & Operations 

• Carrier Ethernet End-to-End Service (EVC)

• NNI Service 
• UNI Service 
• CPE Configuration, VLANs 

• MPLS Traffic Engineered LSPs (RSVP - TE) / TE Tunnels & Named Paths 

As the pace of unified communications accelerates, the future is looking better and better - both for the Service Providers and Large Carriers who are deploying LTE networks and the vendors who help them manage change.

For vendors of equipment and software to these Service Providers (such as Dorado Software :) the future has also never looked brighter. For example, headlines such, "Worldwide revenue for Carrier Ethernet switches and IP routers surges" and "At Last: Ethernet Backhaul Booms for Carriers" are the opposite of canaries in a coal mine - they are signs of things to come. In addition, there is this assessment from the Ethernet Academy:

"... 17 LTE networks were launched commercially in 2010, and by the end of 2012 we expect to see 64 operators worldwide with residential and business LTE subscribers. LTE will become the single mobile network for mobile phone and mobile broadband, adopted by most of the world in the next 5 to 10 years. By 2015, LTE will likely support 100 million mobile devices and will continue to rapidly gain subscribers from the 2G/3G base." 

All of this points to strong growth in the Service Provider market through 2014, as well as the vendors who supply that market.

However, significant potholes remain on the road to Valhalla. To start with, an ever-increasing demand for mobile services - via wireless phones, PDA's, and other mobile devices - means that Service providers are struggling to keep up with both bandwidth and quality demand from users who expect higher and higher levels of service. Using legacy networks that are not designed for IP traffic - not to mention a crazy-quilt of vendor solutions and manual processes - can further complicate the situation. 

Another challenge facing mobile providers will be the requirement of maintaining a hybrid environment for years to come. TDM and the more traditional telco technologies will not just go away with the advent of 3GPP / LTE. The typical mobile operator will need to maintain a TDM / Ethernet environment through several device lifecycles. The interface / integration requirements for these hybrid platforms will be a challenge.

At Dorado Software we've developed the powerful Redcell solution that is proven to meet and surpasses these challenges. Already deployed - and working - in some of the largest, most mission-critical networks in the world, Redcell gives Service Providers the power to take that next step into the world of Ethernet to support their ever growing bandwidth needs.

The Redcell Carrier Ethernet solution provides a solid foundation for Service Providers to build successful, flexible and scalable offerings for E-Line, E-LAN and E-Tree services. This includes UNI as well as EVC activation and management, providing Ethernet connectivity to subscribers and offering multiple options for data transport. The system supports Quality of Service provisioning allowing Triple Play Communication (Voice, Video and Data) to run successfully over a converged network and offers a range of options to enforce their deterministic behavior.




At Dorado Software, we've spent years working on the tools and technologies to bring our customers into the future. And our customers agree: now that the future is here, it has never looked brighter.

> See the Redcell Carrier Ethernet Data Sheet

> Chat Live with a representative

> Download the Dorado Software Carrier Ethernet White Paper

New Redcell "Synergy" Version 7: The Powerful New Tool To Manage Your Network Infrastructure

One of the amazing things about working in the field of network management software is the constant state of change. We're not talking about "gee, it's raining today so I better wear a jacket" type of change. We're talking break-neck, full-throttle adaptation to changes in carrier ethernet, mobile backhaul and Long Term Evolution (LTE) for service provider environments.

So it's no surprise that our ingenious gnomes here at Dorado Software have been working like crazy to bring out the newest version of Redcell infrastructure management: Redcell Synergy (RC7). Here are a few things you can do if you see a demo of the newest version of Redcell network management software:

1. Comprehensive Security


2. Customizable Alarms

Today we're going to be talking Redcell. While comparisons are nice (and we ALWAYS encourage people who are considering network infrastructure management software to do comparisons!) it's also good to just straight-up answer the question: "Why should I consider buying this product??"

When it comes to mission-critical infrastructure - network or otherwise - the folks running it are necessarily and understandably risk-averse. We wouldn't want it any other way. After all, do we want people to consider sloppy network management solutions for our phone company or airline? At the same time, the quickly evolving nature today's networked world makes it impossible to simply ignore change. At Dorado Software, that's a big part of what we do - help our customers manage network infrastructure change.

Gone are the days of manually running all but the smallest IT networks using hardware from just 1 vendor. Instead, a must-do requirement of any network management or monitoring software should be to be able to manage more than 1 vendor. And to be able to deploy automated network management. We encourage you do do yourself a favor: Save yourself a drive down to the server rack at 2am!

Some of the biggest network concerns center around network security. Especially with prominent equipment vendors such as Cisco. Here are some examples of what Redcell has when it comes to security and fault management:
Regardless of what tool you use, these are functions your current network management software should be able to perform. We encourage you to check out Redcell.

Managing Next-Generation Service Provider Networks 

"Software as a Service." "Cloud computing." "Virtualization." By now we're probably all-too familiar with the terms of the day. But with regards to converging IT technologies - routers, switches, media gateways, media servers, etc - as we ride this technology wave we can sometimes we can miss the forest for the trees. The reality is, technological miracles are happening every hour of every day. Tonight, we'll see the latest entry: IBM's Watson Supercomputer will take on Jeopardy champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in "a landmark test of artificial intelligence."

Yup, that's right. 2 of the word's Jeopardy champs will be taking on a computer. This is an encore to the match in 1997, when IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeated chess world champion Gary Kasparoff. One of my theories is that these days, most of us are so used to seeing technology perform miracles that we're pretty jaded. When something amazing comes along, sometimes it's hard to spot because the reality is, if you live in New York, Tokyo or London, you're surrounded by The Amazing every single  day. If you have any doubts, think about the technology it takes to build and operate a single passenger airplane. Not only that, but the average new high-end car has more lines of code than an advanced jet fighter. That's amazing. Consider this tidbit courtesy of Robert Charrotte, IEEE Spectrum Magazine:

Wow. All that power. But whether in Watson, the plane you fly on,  the car sitting in your driveway, or the network you operate - all can be for naught without best-in-class network software. Obviously, when it comes to network infrastructure management I am biased towards our own network management software: Redcell. But whatever solution you are looking at, the software should able to do the following:

One of the awesome things about working with network infrastructure management software is that we can see our products produce real results in the real world! And one of the most gratifying things in any business is seeing continued, happy customers. In that regard, we'd like to express our appreciation to Boeing.

In 2008 Dorado Software was honored to be chosen by Boeing Advanced Systems to manage a high-speed electrical network that connects The Boeing Laboratory Network and real-time flight simulation centers throughout the United States.



Designed to help automate network operations and reduce management costs, the solution was chosen to provide a a single unified view for configuration management, health and performance monitoring, compliance identification and auditing, troubleshooting, and software patching of its multi-vendor network environment which includes equipment from Cisco and Juniper. Some key functions that Redcell delivers are deep system discovery, inventory management and reporting, device configuration, health management, remote access and control, software patching & provisioning, and topology views.

I don't know many things, but one thing I know for sure is: Network stability is an absolute "must-have" requirement in today's hyper-networked world. That's why Dorado Software is trusted to run some of the most mission-critical data centers you can imagine. Examples include the areas of energy, telecommunications and finance to name a few. And we are active in more than 60 countries around the world.

But what if you're not Boeing? What about the smaller and medium-sized Enterprise? We have products to address your needs too. Because no matter what your area - or size - we understand all of our customers are mission-critical. Security. Storage Management. Carrier Ethernet. Long Term Evolution (LTE). You name it. No matter what your challenge odds are we've met it.

We invite you to see a demo of what the new Redcell can do for you.

Question: Can you find the Bandwidth Hog in Your Network?



OK, I admit it. For the folks who operate networks, it can be a headache to manage bandwidth. For the rest of us, bandwidth represents something awesome - amazing - the pinnacle of human network achievement. Like the power of millions of people to collectively getting to see hundreds of people getting their balls whacked on YouTube.

Yet regardless, for all its splendor, there is also an undeniable truth to managing modern networks which are becoming progressively unified. Video, voice, data... an engineer friend of mine said to me one day, "the internet is so darn complicated it's a miracle the thing even works." OK, that made me a little scared. But regardless of your network's complexity, one thing is clear: there is beast that lurks inside, stealthily chewing up bandwidth: The insidious Bandwidth Hog.

Now don't get me wrong, at one time or another, most of us are guilty of being bandwidth hogs. To use a personal example, I am a lifelong soccer player but resisted the urge to stream live video during the World Cup. Growing up in the area and being a lifelong San Francisco Giants fan, I resisted the urge stream the World Series (though I did catch a few minutes of the parade celebration :) to see my beloved Giants win. BUT what got me in the end was the recent unrest in Egypt. I finally broke down and streamed about 15 minutes of video. Yes, I was hogging bandwidth (but don't tell my admin! :).

At any rate: the folks who deal with the complicated stuff: MPLS - VPN L2/L3 - Ethernet networks may view any species of hog with suspicion. But such is the world of provisioning complex services in this day and age. And the fact is, some people may be hogging your bandwidth without even knowing it. For example a network user may think they are behaving perfectly fine - because they're streaming music instead of video all day! 

So we know today's needs of the world's Service Providers, Enterprise and Government networks are exploding and face new challenges every second of every hour. We urge you to not wait another day and check out Redcell Traffic Flow Analyzer, a world-class tool for identifying and fixing network problems fast. Go ahead and start hunting bandwidth hogs!

There's a new/old movement in the air: that of the Venerable Art of the Urban Ninja. While watching one of these maestros of movement on YouTube referred to me thru Facebook (yes, they really do pay people for that) I was struck by the similarities between Redcell and what these guys do. Witness the Urban Ninja contemplating his environment. Does this remind you of a network administrator contemplating change?

Security Services Config Technical Specifications

Vendor Specific Line Card Support:

Fast Ethernet Gigabit Ethernet Controller Cards ATM

Channelized OC-x Multilink Services SONET/SDH T1/E1

T3/E3 Tunnel Multi-service blade IPSec SPA

Operating Environments:

Windows 2000, XP, 2003

Solaris 9

Red Hat Linux

Database:

• Embedded database or Oracle

Interface Support:

• SNMPv1/v2/v3; Proprietary Device CLI, XML, SSH SOAP/Web services, RMI/IIOP, TL1

Comprehensive Cisco Support:

Network-based Security Services Solution Integrated Services Routers (ISR) Head Office / WAN Routers VPN Aggregation Routers

Core & Service Access Routers ASA Security Appliances PIX Firewalls

Anyone who has television knows Cisco has been ramping it up lately, especially if you made it to the recent Las Vegas CES (Consumer Electronics Show). Since we at Dorado Software are Global Strategic Partners with Cisco, now seems like a great time to share some of our software solutions specifically made for Cisco.

Dorado Software's Redcell ASWAN Solution offers Service Providers a unified Network-Based security service management solution for creating, provisioning, and managing VRF-Aware IPSec VPN and virtual Firewall Services on Cisco 7200/7301, Cisco7600 and Cisco 12k series. The management solution provisions site-to-site and remote access IPSec and GRE VPNs and supports configuration of both site-to-site Virtual Firewall and Internet Offload with URL Filtering.

• Integrated service and network management - Consolidate and automate operations of heterogeneous network and service management with a single graphical console. Saves time, training, and errors.
• Transaction-based, flow-through automated provisioning - improves service activation and decrease errors associated with manual tasks.
• Inherently offers infrastructure lifecycle management functions including: deep discovery and device resynchronization, inventory view, group management, active and discrete configuration, global configuration file management, topology, monitoring, and reporting on everything.
• Enables on-demand adjustments to security, Quality of Service (QoS) and other services and policies for subscribers, with the option of empowering customers to control their own broadband experience.
• Technically certified by nSite and available today for Cisco customers, resellers, and field organization

If you would like to find out more about Advanced Security Services Configuration for Service Providers, you can speak to a live person by calling toll free at +1 888-939-9959 or by visiting us at http://www.doradosoftware.com

Customer Profile: United Arab Emirates International VPN Project from Dorado SoftwareAdditional Notes:
Redcell’s next generation IP service fulfillment and assurance solution offers purpose‐built modules for L2 / L3, Ethernet, VPLS services, in addition to the Redcell Creation Studio to customize, extend or quickly build any IP service, for any environment.

Imagine a tool that can discover and automate your network and storage environment - all from your existing Symantec Management Console.

The Redcell Integration Component for Symantec Altiris Solutions is a Symantec-certified solution that lets you gain unprecedented knowledge and control of you complete IT infrastructure, even in a multi-vendor environment - all within your Symantec Altiris NS system.




The integrated solution provides the combined power of application, systems, network & storage asset, inventory, configuration and connectivity knowledge - all from within the Symantec Management Console & in the Altiris CMDB.

Specifically, Redcell lets users find, configure and monitor multi-vendor networking & storage environments. Redcell is easy-to-implement, easy-to-use, and easy-to-maintain - providing you with the visibility and control needed to maintain and control a healthy data center.

You can see it for yourself with a free trial. Not up for the free trial? Check out the PDF data sheet (no registration required).

> Free Evaluation Software | Redcell with Symantec Altiris Integration.

> Data Sheet  | Redcell with Symantec Altiris Integration


INTERFACE SUPPORT

Long Term Evolution (LTE) provides the bandwidth necessary to deliver advanced and compelling services. It will no longer be good enough to maintain the quality of the network. Service providers must differentiate themselves by monitoring the user experience or quality of experience. Mobile providers face a number of challenges with technologies and standards at and beyond 3GPP / LTE. 

Another challenge facing mobile providers will be the requirement of maintaining a hybrid environment for years to come. TDM and the more traditional telco technologies will not just go away with the advent of 3GPP / LTE. The typical mobile operator will need to maintain a TDM / Ethernet environment through several device lifecycles. The interface / integration requirements for these multi-vendor platforms will be a challenge.

 Get Datasheet (No Registration Required)



At Dorado Software, we have a solution to manage multi-vendor, Long Term Evolution: We call it Redcell. Here is what the Carrier Ethernet Services component of Redcell from Dorado Software covers:


For your more information or your personal reading pleasure, here is a link to a free white paper (courtesy of Dorado Software) titled, "The Impact of Carrier Ethernet on Service Providers."

In the real world, things don't always go how we plan them. For example, making configuration
changes can disrupt your existing customers and services - and cost $$. Does this look familiar?

              

Fallout can occur when spreadsheets, text files or static/legacy inventory systems are used as the source
when it comes to implementing changes. Out-of-date, stale, static and manually updated configuration information
can badly hurt your network. This means deep discovery of inventory and configuration auditing can help everyone: 
operations, engineers and customers. Now you can update, maintain and reconcile your network infrastructure. 

We all know there's a gap between planning and the real world. Now we have Redcell to fix it. 

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Need an Inventory Audit?

IP VPN MPLS

Network Configuration Tools

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Redcell supports converging IT technologies, security, networking and storage devices. Systems, media gateways and applications from leading
vendors such as Cisco, Juniper, Extreme, Dell, Microsoft, Symantec, Foundry, Linux, HP, Avaya, Aruba, Oracle, EMC, Nortel, 3Com, Brocade and more.
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