The vendors are developing a standard to sharing information between configuration management databases
Four of the top rivals in IT management software have joined forces to develop common standards to make it easier for firms to keep track of IT assets and their performance.
BMC Software, Fujitsu, IBM with its Tivoli portfolio, and HP with OpenView, announced this week that they will work together to develop an open specification for sharing information between configuration management databases (CMDBs) and other data repositories that hold information on the configuration and performance of IT assets, including hardware, middleware and applications.
The four said in a statement that they plan to submit a draft specification to a standards organisation later this year.
Currently, the vendors argue, firms can gain insight into the configuration of an area of their infrastructure by using CMDB's, but face difficulty getting different vendors' tools to integrate mean they often cannot see how different hardware and software components are interdependent.
In theory, a standard would allows firms to easily integrate their different CMDBs and track or model how changes to one part of the infrastructure, such as the introduction of a new application, would affect other assets that share the same resources.
John Holden of analyst firm Butler Group welcomed the news, and said it would make life a lot easier for IT administrators. "If you are using a best-of-breed mix of management solutions, which most large firms are, having a standard will mean you can reduce the effort required to get a clear overview of your environment," he explained.
Yasushi Ishida of Fujitsu confirmed in a statement that the company planned to incorporate the agreed standard in its Fujitsu Systemwalker IT management products.
Leading management software providers CA and Microsoft were both conspicuous by their absence from the new group, however. This suggests industry-wide support for any new specification may not be guaranteed. However, Holden predicted that if the standard were adopted Microsoft and CA would ultimately be forced to embrace it. "It is not clear if they absented themselves on purpose, but over time there is nothing to be gained from not being involved as this is the way the market is going," he said.
Four of the top rivals in IT management software have joined forces to develop common standards to make it easier for firms to keep track of IT assets and their performance.
BMC Software, Fujitsu, IBM with its Tivoli portfolio, and HP with OpenView, announced this week that they will work together to develop an open specification for sharing information between configuration management databases (CMDBs) and other data repositories that hold information on the configuration and performance of IT assets, including hardware, middleware and applications.
The four said in a statement that they plan to submit a draft specification to a standards organisation later this year.
Currently, the vendors argue, firms can gain insight into the configuration of an area of their infrastructure by using CMDB's, but face difficulty getting different vendors' tools to integrate mean they often cannot see how different hardware and software components are interdependent.
In theory, a standard would allows firms to easily integrate their different CMDBs and track or model how changes to one part of the infrastructure, such as the introduction of a new application, would affect other assets that share the same resources.
John Holden of analyst firm Butler Group welcomed the news, and said it would make life a lot easier for IT administrators. "If you are using a best-of-breed mix of management solutions, which most large firms are, having a standard will mean you can reduce the effort required to get a clear overview of your environment," he explained.
Yasushi Ishida of Fujitsu confirmed in a statement that the company planned to incorporate the agreed standard in its Fujitsu Systemwalker IT management products.
Leading management software providers CA and Microsoft were both conspicuous by their absence from the new group, however. This suggests industry-wide support for any new specification may not be guaranteed. However, Holden predicted that if the standard were adopted Microsoft and CA would ultimately be forced to embrace it. "It is not clear if they absented themselves on purpose, but over time there is nothing to be gained from not being involved as this is the way the market is going," he said.
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