Aug 23, 2012

Tech News: Hewlett Packard Releases Configuration Management System 10

Hewlett Packard’s new Configuration Management System (CMS) 10 enables IT management to improve performance with operational intelligence, according to HP. HP introduced the next generation enterprise performance software platform last month, claiming it will decrease the time spent on manual discovery by more than 50 percent. In addition, HP says its CMS clients have recently seen an increase in speed of projects completed. HP adds that the new software platform improves visibility into the relationship between software and physical, virtual and cloud IT infrastructure, enabling organizations to reduce complexity within their IT processes and services. “CMS 10 improves control of converged clouds,” said Jimmy Augustine, product marketing manager at HP Software.[1] “It sees the virtual machines and updates the Universal Configuration Management Database with the dynamic information from public and private clouds.” With HP’s Universal Configuration Management Database, users are able to manage multiple client environments within one location. This helps improve security, automation and scalability, according to HP. Director of Technology at Equifax, Inc. W. Scott Hite says, “HP CMS software introduces a new category of intelligent discovery that adds tremendous value and helps support our ongoing mission of delivering the best services as quickly as possible. Hite adds, “What HP has done for discovery tools is equivalent to what Apple has done for the cell phone industry.” “CMDB implementations have additional complexity when there are requirements for dependency mapping, discovery and inventory tools,” said Ronni Colville, vice president and analyst, IT Operations Management, Gartner, Inc. “A unified offering that combines the best of both could offer users a more efficient means of tracking and modeling data-center services, applications and infrastructure.” According to an HP release, with the new CMS 10 software, enterprises, governments and managed service providers can:

Quickly discover software and hardware inventory, as well as associated dependencies, in a single unified discovery solution.
Speed time to value with a simplified user interface and enhanced scalability, allowing IT teams to consume and use rich intelligence hosted in the HP CMS.
Save money by automatically locating and cataloging new technologies related to network hardware, open-source middleware, storage, enterprise resource planning and infrastructure software providers; and
Minimize application failure risks as a result of poorly constructed server clusters by introducing new server compliance thresholds.[2]

“Service disruptions within complex cloud and virtualized environments are difficult to identify and resolve,” said Shane Pearson, vice president, Product Marketing, Operations, Software, HP. “With the new enhancements to HP Configuration Management System. IT executives now have the configuration intelligence they need at their fingertips to make rapid decisions to ensure consistent business service availability.” HP CMS 10 is now available worldwide in 10 languages and sold through HP Channel Partners.

[1] For Steria, cloud not so much a technology as catalyst to responsive and agile business [2] HP Doubles the Speed of Cloud, Virtualization Project Delivery for Organizations