1. Yes, Solarwinds' Orion is primarily a suite of Network Monitoring solution.
2. Solarwinds' Orion has a plethora of functionality available throughout the various applications. From my experience, most network administrators use it for monitoring the availability and performance of their network devices and other systems.
A Demo is available for download via the Solarwinds' website at
http://www.solarwinds.com/products/orion/.
The software can be installed on Windows. For testing purposes, a desktop OS would be fine on a workstation system. In Production, a server-based system and resources would be more desirable to ensure adequate performance based on your individual requirements.
3. Overall, it's a great tool and most companies find it worth the initial cost. While others might prefer less expensive tools, typically found in the Unix/Linux world for low to no cost, the graphical interfaces and reporting capabilities of Orion make it well worth the investment.
Hope this helps...
Mike
