How Distributed is Distributed Management or Can Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth? by John Day
The need for network management has always been recognized. At the same time, it was recognized as both overhead to selling equipment as well as a facility to smooth over the shortcomings of the equipment. Most datacomm networks in the 1970s and before were fairly small, often using equipment from a single vendor. Network management stations, then called network control, were sold as a loss leader: Sell the razor cheap (or free), they buy more blades. As the 70s progressed, networks were not only getting larger but more and more diverse.