Optinuity overhauls automation software

Automation software maker Optinuity this week updated its flagship software with capabilities that combine run-book automation, local monitoring, job scheduling and policy management to enable enterprise systems and applications too become self-managing.

Oasis, formerly known as C2O, now features technology Optinuity calls Autonomic Policy Management (APM), which the vendor says can enable IT infrastructure to automatically fix itself based on predefined policies in the software. Optinuity says it built upon its run-book and IT process automation capabilities in C2O with job scheduling, local monitoring and policy management capabilities to enable the software to remediate performance and other problems before users are effected. The company says Oasis will help IT managers tackle problems from the business systems and applications perspective, rather than focusing on managing the underlying, individual components.

"Oasis is about moving from a mode of IT management that is driven from the perspective of managing IT infrastructure to one that is driven from the perspective of managing complete business systems and applications," said Scott Stouffer, president and CEO of Optinuity.

Oasis provides an integrated platform, Optinuity says, that underpins applications and infrastructure to help IT shops manage their environments with consolidated tools. The product includes software installed on servers as well as distributed agent software on managed devices and resources including databases, servers, storage and network equipment. The software monitors the environment to detect anomalous behavior and is able to take action before services degrade, the vendor says.

Optinuity is among several vendors, including BMC, HP and IBM, that are delivering automation capabilities in their monitoring and management products. BMC this past summer acquired RealOps to pump up its suite, and HP also acquired technology with Opsware to enhance the automation capabilities in its software line. IBM coined the term autonomic computing years ago and invests heavily in instrumenting its products with automation capabilities. Other competitors in the automation market include pure-play vendors Enigmatec, Network Automation and Opalis. Industry watchers say automation can benefit IT shops across the board.

"[Automation] shows promise at both the low and high end of the IT management market, where it will reduce operational costs through automation of low- and high-level processes," writes Jean-Pierre Garbani, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research in a recent report.

And Optinuity in particular is working, he notes, to expand its reach from simple processes to broader IT uses. "Optinuity's goal is to move beyond the data center per se and become the process automation solution universally used in IT, development, administration, and production through an extensive collection of tool connectors," the report reads.

Oasis is available now and pricing depends upon the implementation.