HP Software earnings show promise in down economy

12/03/08

Not so long ago, HP made public its ambitious plan to become a leading software provider. With chief Mark Hurd at the helm, the company known for making most of its money via hardware and other products declared it would speed to the top of the software market as well. And recent earnings announcements show HP's efforts could help it achieve this goal and succeed financially despite tough economic times.

Managing performance: What you don't know will hurt you

12/01/08

The old saying "ignorance is bliss" doesn't apply to the myriad factors that can contribute to poor application and network performance. The less network managers know about the components in their environment that impact performance, the more likely they suffer unplanned outages, application performance degradation and costly network downtime. The problem is rooted in a lack of visibility into network and application performance, according to industry watchers.

IT management software-as-a-service

11/24/08

Let's face facts. Enterprise-level management software deservedly earned a reputation of being difficult to deploy and challenging to maintain in the 1990s, and despite vendors' best efforts, little has happened to change that perception.

Entuity's Eye watches over power consumption

11/19/08

Network management software maker Entuity this week unveiled upgrades to its flagship monitoring software that now provides IT managers with a perspective on green IT.

Generating positive PR for the IT department

11/17/08

Talk of an economic downturn brings efforts around IT aligning with the business to the fore as high-tech leaders are tasked with validating their worth and proving company budget dollars invested in technology are well spent.

Help desk cuts costs, improves services via telework program

11/12/08

IT departments hoping to keep valued employees longer might try implementing a telework program that lets help desk support staff stay connected while also enabling better customer service.

How to manage your network with an iPhone

11/10/08

Network managers looking for a way to expense an iPhone could tell upper management about a new software download that lets them take action and control their environment with a smartphone.

Cost reduction closely tied to solid IT service management strategy

11/05/08

Most IT organizations are working to put the days of firefighting and ad hoc processes behind them by adopting some type of IT service management strategy. And recent news around the economy could accelerate companies' adoption of best practices around IT service delivery, research shows.

CA well positioned to weather economic storm

11/03/08

As the economy continues to dominate national news, industry watchers are scrutinizing earnings announcements from high-tech vendors. Some are on the disappointing side, but others give financial analysts hope that there is a light at the end of this very dark tunnel.

Novell's Managed Objects' BSM buy spurs industry discussion

10/29/08

Novell's bid to acquire business service management (BSM) software maker Managed Objects caused many in the industry to stop and take notice. Some commend Novell's investment in the smaller management player, but others worry Novell could fail to exploit Managed Objects' technology to its maximum potential.

Seattle Times Company speeds troubleshooting with WildPackets

10/27/08

In the news business, time is money - even for the team in charge of managing the multi-site network supporting Washington state's largest daily newspaper: The Seattle Times.

Readers weigh in on IT and the economy

10/22/08

Economic struggle isn't new to the IT industry, but some working in a high-tech profession view the current financial circumstances as an opportunity, while others wonder how much they can really stretch a dollar.

Virtual management start-ups weigh in on best practices

10/20/08

Virtualization is a game-changing technology that has many IT managers looking for the best ways to roll out the technology on a large scale in their environments.

The power of integration for management vendors

10/15/08

Management software makers promise enterprise IT streamlined operations, but the more the market consolidates the less likely one vendor will be able to offer interoperable tools - unless they take on the hard work of integration now.

When duty calls: IT pros do more with less

10/13/08

The economic turmoil tormenting Wall Streeters is also trickling down to IT departments.

Managing your VMware environment in four simple steps

10/08/08

When it comes to managing virtual server environments, two distinct camps have emerged. One side argues that virtual machines require the same care and feeding as their physical counterparts, just multiplied by 100 because VMs proliferate at a faster pace. The second camp contends that VMs introduce new, unique challenges not before seen in the physical realm.

LandAmerica to track application, virtual system health with Netuitive

10/06/08

As LandAmerica Financial Group worked to centralize and streamline company title and escrow systems, IT leaders at the real estate transaction services company realized an investment in performance management software might be necessary to provide both executives and technicians with a comprehensive view of the environment.

Big four management vendors face competition from all sides

10/01/08

The incumbent management technology market leaders BMC, CA, HP and IBM manage to stay ahead of a pack of would-be contenders, but industry watchers argue the time might be coming in which the competition might have a shot at unseating one of the big four management vendors.

Digital Fuel builds its ITSM foundation

09/29/08

IT service management encompasses several disciplines ranging from service desk to service-level management (SLM) to ITIL processes, and Digital Fuel plans to address the gamut with its hosted offerings that help enterprise service desk managers create service catalogs, define service levels and better manage support across the organization.

Service desk staff challenged with more complexity, less resources

09/24/08

Service desk employees often take the brunt of complaint calls and deal with disgruntled end-users while manning the front line of IT, and a recent survey shows these staffers are handling more calls than ever - with fewer resources in some cases.

High hopes for Open Virtualization Format standard

09/22/08

News about management standards doesn't often excite industry watchers, but the recent debut of the Distributed Management Task Force's (DMTF) Open Virtualization Format standard could change all that.

Precise emerges as independent transaction performance management company

09/17/08

Application performance management companies rarely survive for any length of time on their own in the wild.

Management vendors continue to drop the V word

09/15/08

It's not enough to talk about virtualization any more; management vendors are lining up to show their support for the technology from VMware, Microsoft, Citrix and anyone else planning to make their name with virtual technologies.

CA, IBM bear fruits of CMDB spec

09/10/08

The configuration management database as a concept has companies considering new staff positions and management vendors adding tools to their product suites thanks to ITIL.

Free tools to manage, search virtual environments

09/08/08

Start-up vendors looking to grab some of the management software spotlight at VMworld 2008 next week recently released free software downloads designed to help IT managers track and search data on virtual machines (VM).

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Denise Dubie is senior editor with Network World.