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When the time comes for crafting a management strategy for the new data center, systems, storage and network managers are saying good-bye to the independence they've long enjoyed. Companies are quickly learning that the new data center is all about managing "the system," meaning the overall infrastructure of servers, network devices and storage - encompassing just about any hardware and software asset in an IT shop - and not the piece parts.

That puts Computer Associates, HP and IBM - the three traditional management framework vendors - in the spotlight. These are the vendors that companies are turning to for a "single pane of glass" from which they can monitor, analyze and manage their IT assets.

Each of these vendors has so far done a reasonable job of providing the ability to monitor systems within a particular discipline - most often for the network or server infrastructure. But monitoring and managing are not at all the same, and while the ability to monitor elements and events is a necessary first step, it is only that - a first step.

Here's a look at where CA, HP and IBM stand in their efforts to place all management within a single framework and give corporations that big-picture view. The onus to get storage management integrated is particularly strong, given the rising importance of information life-cycle management, regulatory compliance and service-level agreements within the modern enterprise.

CA is building its Enterprise IT Management (EIM) strategy for integrating related but occasionally disparate technologies around a vision it calls "business-driven IT." In storage, this vision will manifest as the integration between the BrightStor storage resource management and SAN Manager tools, and between mainframe and open systems SRM tools. (The ability to manage mainframe and open systems environments has been one of CA's strengths).

With such integration, users get an end-to-end, cross-platform view of the complete storage environment. Add in interoperability between BrightStor SRM and BrightStor ARCserve Backup, and users will be able to align storage resources and data protection. CA's storage team has made big strides with the BrightStor brand, moving it from a collection of often good but frequently disconnected products to a set of interoperable offerings that share common services. The next step will be integrating BrightStor with Unicenter for desktop management and eTrust for security management.