Friday, August 06, 2010
More companies will allow end users to carry IT supported smartphones and more enterprise applications will reside on the devices, according to recent research, but will the trend challenge IT management practices?
By Denise Dubie
It seems inevitable that enterprise IT managers will have to devise a plan to handle a slew of smartphones in the coming years, according to recent research reports that say companies will extend business applications to the devices and most handhelds will feature Web browsers by 2015.
Just how smart is your smartphone?
ABI Research this week shared data that showed more than 60% of the installed base of mobile handsets worldwide, or about 3.7 billion, will contain mobile Web browsers by 2015. And McAfee’s Digital Trust unit reported that some 75% of 150 senior IT executives intend to make internal applications available to employees on a variety of smartphones, according to a Network World article. Specifically, nearly 60% of respondents said they will mobilize more than e-mail, extending CRM, ERP and proprietary in-house applications to mobile devices.
Continue reading "Smartphones invade the enterprise: Will IT management need to change?" »
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Enterprise Management Associates’ Radar report for Application-Aware Network Performance Management names CA Technologies and OPNET Technologies as value leaders.
By Denise Dubie
CA Technologies can attribute its acquisition of NetQoS for its high rank on Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) recent Radar report that analyzed some 20 vendors and their Application-Aware Network Performance Management (ANPM) product capabilities.
How savvy network management optimizes application performance
CA Technologies certainly isn’t shy about shopping for technology -- the vendor since the beginning of 2009 alone has acquired 3Tera, Cassatt, NetQoS, Nimsoft and Oblicore. And recent research shows that the company is also pretty savvy when it comes to picking companies and products that will best round out its technology portfolio.
In the case of NetQoS, CA Technologies invested $200 million in 2009 to acquire the Austin-based network performance management vendor and is already seeing the fruits of that acquisition by way of industry recognition for its technology capabilities. Combining the NetQoS portfolio with products acquired years ago with Concord Communications, namely eHealth, CA Technologies caught the attention of Jim Frey, research director at EMA, author of the recent EMA Radar report on ANPM products.
Continue reading "NetQoS buy lands CA Technologies in ‘value leader’ position" »
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
Enterprise Management Associates’ Radar report for Application-Aware Network Performance Management proves the importance of network health for optimized application performance.
By Denise Dubie
Network management is considered a mature IT discipline, yet recent research proves that even advanced practices can be updated when technology and business needs demand it.
Take application-aware network performance management, for example. Bringing together network performance data with metrics on applications and services running across the environment will help high-tech managers deliver an optimized IT end-user experience, according to Enterprise Management Associates (EMA).
CA Technologies earns BSM nod from EMA
“Application-aware network performance management (ANPM) in our Radar report is looking at tools that are doing performance management by monitoring the network and in doing so the tools are also revealing application details and services that are active, who’s using them and how often, what’s the responsiveness and the quality of experience,” says Jim Frey, research director at EMA.
The EMA Radar for Application-Aware Network Performance Management Q3 2010 Summary details the four key mechanisms used by vendors in tools designed to provide application awareness in a network management product. To start, tools should include packet inspection capabilities. This “technique delivers application visibility by looking into packet headers as well as deeper packet contents in order to recognize and monitor application and service use by user,” according to the report.
Continue reading "How savvy network management optimizes application performance" »
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
The Distributed Management Task Force's efforts to develop a standard interface for cloud computing attract key players, promise results sooner.
By Denise Dubie
In April 2009, the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) launched its Open Cloud Standards Incubator to begin work on developing interoperability standards for cloud providers. The efforts thus far delivered several white papers detailing uses cases, architecture and service models for cloud computing and recently resulted in the formation of the Cloud Management Workgroup (CMWG). DMTF President Winston Bumpus says the momentum of the standards work is strong, thanks in part to key players coming to the table and agreeing to collaborate on interoperability – even with competitors.
Can you tell me a bit about the progress the DMTF has made with cloud computing standards in the past year?
We have been working on this incubator for a little more than 12 months. The intent was always to get the industry together and look at how we can solve interoperability issues around cloud computing. Our efforts are particularly focused around Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) because that is where the DMTF has been focused in the past. It enables us to take what we have already done in the realm of servers, storage and virtualization management and just move it up to the next level. We are really all about distributed infrastructure management so extending standards to the cloud is a natural next step for us.
Continue reading "DMTF President: “People clamoring for cloud standards”" »
Monday, July 26, 2010
Distributed Management Task Force announces incubator documents, establishes workgroup.
By Denise Dubie
The Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) Monday announced progress in the group’s efforts to create standards for interoperability and manageability in cloud computing environments, advancing an initiative started in 2009 as cloud hype began to escalate.
IT management standards and cloud computing
The DMTF made available two new documents produced by the group’s Open Cloud Standards Incubator. The documents, "Use Cases and Interactions for Managing Cloud" and “Architecture for Managing Clouds,” are meant to describe standardized interfaces and data formats to manage cloud environments.
Continue reading "Cloud management standards efforts progress" »
Friday, July 23, 2010
CA Expo 2010 event days in Melbourne and Sydney draw IT management professionals looking to learn how virtualization, cloud and other technologies will impact their management strategies.
“The buzz of the day centered squarely on cloud computing and virtualization -- on the seismic shift in IT these technologies are bringing on -- and on the game-changing possibilities they’re opening up,” according to the CA Expo 2010 Web site.
Dr. Ajei S. Gopal, executive vice president of Technology and Development at CA Technologies, delivers an address at CA Expo 2010.
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Monday, July 12, 2010
Infrastructure and application data is required to provide the business with IT service assurance.
By Denise Dubie
Data doesn’t mean much if it isn’t put to proper use. High-tech leaders hoping to help their companies achieve the nirvana of business-IT alignment must learn where to find and how to best use infrastructure and application performance metrics to deliver true IT service assurance.
Poor application performance cuts into business’ bottom line
According to a recent IDG Research Services survey, 75% of U.S. organizations polled consider IT-business alignment a “primary concern.” Yet 35% of those organizations also report having difficulty tying business goals to IT. And 31% reported that they had insufficient monitoring and management capabilities, according to the report “The value of performance metrics in managing IT service,” developed by Network World Custom Solutions Group for CA Technologies.
Continue reading "Performance anxiety: Gathering the right metrics to manage IT services" »
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
IT decision makers realize optimal application performance will help them keep end-users and customers satisfied and their businesses in the black, according to an IDG Research Services study.
By Denise Dubie
Industry watchers have long touted the benefits of optimal application performance, and a recent research note suggests IT managers also realize that without monitoring applications and the infrastructure supporting them, they cannot achieve their ultimate goal: end-user/customer satisfaction.
Poor application performance to blame for lost productivity, increased costs
It’s common sense that applications that deliver perfectly on their promise will mean happier end-users, but a recent study conducted by IDG Research Services shows that not only will peak application performance keep end-users satisfied but it will also directly impact a company’s bottom line. The survey, conducted via the Internet among the CIO LinkedIn Forum, polled more than 150 online respondents about application performance. The results show that the majority of IT and business stakeholders recognize the direct impact poorly performing applications will have to the business.
Continue reading "Poor application performance cuts into business’ bottom line" »
Monday, June 21, 2010
A recent survey of 400 IT professionals revealed that for the majority success is measured on the IT organization’s ability to provide constant improvement – which was defined as “providing the expected quality of service while constantly reducing the budgets.”
Monday, June 21, 2010
IT infrastructure and operations professionals polled at CA Technologies’ Interactive IT Executive Forum reveal lost employee productivity and increased IT costs due to end-user problems with online applications.
By Denise Dubie
IT professionals realize poor application performance can hurt customer satisfaction and ultimately the business, but recent poll results show that applications not behaving as expected can drive down employee productivity and do damage to IT department budgets by increasing the costs of solving problems.
Uncertain economic times drive strategic IT investments
According to a poll taken during the multi-city event, CA Technologies’ Interactive IT Executive Forum, more than half of approximately 400 IT professionals in attendance experienced in the past 18 months a “loss of employee productivity due to downtime/poor performance.” About 23% said “escalating costs of resulting issues and problems” could also be attributed to end-user problems with online applications, and nearly 12% felt their company had suffered some damage to the brand/company reputation. More than 10% reported drops in revenue and more than 4% said that they experienced high levels of customer churn.
Continue reading "Poor application performance to blame for lost productivity, increased costs" »
