Tivoli revamps product line

Tivoli last week revealed several new developments that show what the company has been up to in recent months.

Tivoli consolidated its large portfolio of products. The products haven't lost any functions - there are just fewer decisions to make when selecting products. This streamlining also strengthens and simplifies Tivoli's offerings when they're purchased as point products.

Another initiative Tivoli has been working on is to simplify product deployment and reduce the time it takes. This is good news for users, as Tivoli aims for installations measured in days and weeks, rather than years.

Tivoli Service Level Advisor is a new Tivoli service-level management tool. It can manage service levels within the context of the underlying infrastructure. It also provides proactive prediction of infrastructure component.

Also announced is the Tivoli Enterprise Data Warehouse, a management database. It consolidates management data, even from other vendors' products, into a single repository. The Tivoli Enterprise Data Warehouse uses IBM's DB2 technology, and it allows customers to access all of their management data in one place. Initially, the data warehouse will capture performance data metrics and historical data, with the vision that it will eventually coalesce all of the management data from all of Tivoli's products.

Tivoli has also integrated Tivoli Enterprise Console with NetView. This integration strengthens Tivoli's event correlation capabilities.

Other enhancements include the announcement of IBM Tivoli Switch Analyzer, which adds Layer 2 network management capabilities to Tivoli's existing Layer 3 capabilities.

On the storage management front, Tivoli Storage Manager includes performance enhancements like "multiple data restore sessions from multiple tape drives in parallel to a single client," "nondisruptive online image backups" for Win 2000 and Linux clients, and "use of a local hardcopy 'data-set'" for remote clients. It also has expanded platform support, and added support for more tape drives and library devices.

In my prior article on Tivoli, I mentioned how Tivoli is leveraging its IBM connection. An example of this is Tivoli's integrated management of WebSphere. WebSphere now contains embedded Tivoli management components that work with installed Tivoli software. So, companies that use Tivoli and WebSphere have some built-in management integration.

These are the highlights of the Tivoli announcements, although there are other details I don't have the space to cover. The most interesting thing about these announcements is that we're starting to see the results of the changes that have been happening at Tivoli. All in all, it looks like change for the better - at least for Tivoli's customers.

Tivoli taps power of IBM, 01/23/02

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Dennis Drogseth is a director with Enterprise Management Associates, a leading analyst and market research firm based in Boulder, Colorado, focusing exclusively on all aspects of enterprise management. Dennis has extensive experience in network management platforms and products and is researching trends in management software and changing IT roles internationally. His 18-plus years of experience in high-tech includes positions at IBM and Cabletron. He has been quoted in the press and is a speaker at industry events. He can be reached via e-mail.

Audrey Rasmussen is a research director with Enterprise Management Associates in Boulder, Colorado, a leading analyst and market research firm focusing exclusively on all aspects of enterprise management. Audrey has more than 20 years of experience working with distributed systems, applications and networks. Her current focus at EMA is e-business, SMB/SME and MSPs. She can be reached via e-mail.

Enterprise Management Associates in Boulder, Colorado, is a leading analyst and market research firm focusing exclusively on all aspects of enterprise management software and services.