Start-ups aim to tame IT management complexity

IT management newcomers tackle problems posed by cloud computing, virtualization and advanced applications in ways industry veterans haven't yet

IT management start-ups taking advantage of new software delivery models, incorporating innovative computing platforms and attacking sophisticated problems with simpler approaches could help enterprise IT managers embrace emerging technologies such as cloud computing and virtualization without giving up control of their environments.

10 IT management technology start-ups to watch

"Technologies like virtualization and cloud computing are driving the demand for advanced automation and service-level management capabilities because environments using both internal and external computing change the way management software must work," says Andi Mann, research director at Enterprise Management Associates. "Management software needs to be aware of its environment and now it must be able to adapt to manage applications and services in these hybrid on-premise/cloud computing environments."

To continue reading, register here to become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

IT management start-ups taking advantage of new software delivery models, incorporating innovative computing platforms and attacking sophisticated problems with simpler approaches could help enterprise IT managers embrace emerging technologies such as cloud computing and virtualization without giving up control of their environments.

10 IT management technology start-ups to watch

"Technologies like virtualization and cloud computing are driving the demand for advanced automation and service-level management capabilities because environments using both internal and external computing change the way management software must work," says Andi Mann, research director at Enterprise Management Associates. "Management software needs to be aware of its environment and now it must be able to adapt to manage applications and services in these hybrid on-premise/cloud computing environments."

A flurry of fresh-faced companies has emerged to both ease familiar pain points and address newfound challenges. Several upstarts say they can do it by using the very technologies that are driving the complexity in today's heterogeneous networks: software-as-a-service (SaaS), cloud computing and virtualization.

Slideshow: 10 technologies from 2009's IT management's start-ups to watch

"There has definitely been a change in delivery models. Now management software is available via quite a wide spectrum," says David Williams, research vice president at Gartner. "Because management requires on-premise data, many service offerings still require a probe or bit of software on the customer site, but the heavy lifting of the management technology can be done by the vendor."

For instance, companies such as AccelOps, Aprigo and Vineyard Networks offer their management SaaS, which enables IT managers to reap the benefits of sophisticated management software without having to invest the time in installation and maintenance of the applications. Service-now.com led the way for management vendors to package their ware as managed services, inspiring both newcomers and veterans such as BMC, CA and HP to embrace the SaaS model.

The fact that IT buyers want management software in more easily digestible formats is no surprise to industry watchers, who say the combination of the economic downturn, growing complexity of customer environments and the lack of budget dollars and manual labor pushed management technology to its tipping point. Now not only do management software makers have to provide insight into the environment, they must also be able to automate multiple tasks, with little input from human operators.

"Automation has just exploded because IT managers need to improve efficiency and productivity, without adding a lot of staff," says Glenn O'Donnell, senior analyst with Forrester Research. "Virtualization has exploded and torn down the barriers of resistance and trust that used to keep IT from adopting automation."

Newcomers such as AccelOps, Conformity and Elastra plan to cash in on this need for higher IT automation in advanced computing environments using virtual systems and potentially cloud services. AccelOps is able to map IT services down to the network level and perform root cause analysis without requiring IT staff to recreate incidents or compile sophisticated data. Elastra's Enterprise Cloud Server (ECS) is a platform to automate the allocation of application and related resources existing in private and public cloud computing environments. And Conformity promises to help enterprise IT customers with complex, multi-sourced environments better manage identities and access to various applications. Conformity executives say their cloud application management platform will provide centrally managed visibility and control over SaaS users for compliance and governance purposes.