Oblicore puts a price on poor IT performance
Service delivery management software boasts new financial management, configuration database and SOA compliance features.
By
Denise Dubie
,
Network World
, 01/16/2007
- Share/Email
- Tweet This
- Print
Service management software maker Oblicore this week announced it had updated its flagship product to now help customers understand the business and financial impact
of poor IT performance.
Guarantee 4.0, software that tracks IT performance against pre-defined service-level agreements (SLA), now features a financial
management module that company executives say can help customers measure how well the IT components perform against how much
they cost the business. The financial information also helps IT managers analyze how services they deliver are consumed by
the end-user community and better plan for future consumption, Oblicore says. Metrics include service delivery total price,
unit price list and incentives models, which Oblicore says will enable IT managers to "comprehensively track revenue generated
from delivered services."
"We've included the ability with our business impact analysis for customers to drill down through a red service alert and
quickly see which services are slow and which customers are affected," says Bernd Leger, vice president of marketing. He says
the software now includes a Service Delivery Navigator, which lets IT managers describe the relationships among services,
customers and the underlying IT infrastructure to more quickly find the source of problems or the customers most impacted
during performance degradations.
Oblicore Guarantee software collects IT data and correlates it with pre-defined SLA and business objectives. Guarantee uses
software agents to collect data from management systems such as HP OpenView and IBM Tivoli with information gathered by helpdesk
tools from companies such as Remedy and Peregrine. The data is then sent to a correlation engine that compares the IT performance
metrics against pre-set SLAs, which network managers can administer via a user interface.
Also new in Version 4.0 is Guarantee's Service Delivery Configuration Management Database (CMDB), which the company says will help customers model configuration information attributes including location, cost and
usage information. Oblicore also added usability enhancements such as a redesigned user interface and a menu of role-based
tools and wizards to simplify deployment and maintenance. Oblicore also says this version offers built-in Web services that
will make it easier for IT managers implementing service-oriented architecture (SOA) environments to integrate Guarantee with
corporate portals.
Oblicore competes with management heavyweights such as BMC, CA and HP, as well as Promixa Technology, which was recently acquired by Compuware for its business impact analysis and business service management capabilities.
Oblicore Guarantee 4.0 pricing starts at $250,000.
Partner Content
Blue Stripe Software
www.bluestripe.com/
Improving Application Performance Troubleshooting
Diagnosing why an application is slow is hard, at times taking days or weeks to isolate and resolve. This paper explains the challenges involved using current management tools, provides a 'wish list' for application management and analysis, and explains the need for an application system-wide approach that monitors entire applications, not components.
Download Whitepaper
Virtual Vigilance: Managing Application Performance in Virtual Environments
This paper highlights the impact of virtualization on application performance. "Managing Application Performance in Virtual Environments" states: "Best-in-Class organizations are predominately taking actions around improving visibility across both physical and virtual systems, assessing the business impact of application performance and understanding interdependencies of applications in virtualized environments."
Download Whitepaper
Application Service Requests: The Missing Link for Pragmatic ITSM
Forrester Research analyst Glenn O'Donnell and BlueStripe co-founder Vic Nyman discuss a breakthrough approach to application problem management. Learn the new approach for ITSM problem management, which provides: Rapid isolation of application slow-downs to specific components for quick problem resolution, 24/7 monitoring for proactive notification of potential issues before end users are impacted and much more.
Register for Webcast
Comment