Traditionally data centres have been managed in silo'ed teams dictated by the historic differences between the technologies such as network, storage, UNIX servers, Windows systems, and mainframes; these silos have generated highly specialist resources and management tools, which do not easily integrate to provide an end-to-end perspective of the service IT is delivering to the business.
In fact these silo'ed teams often drive the technology selection process in organisations, which to a large extent is governed by the existing skills within the IT department. This approach has created tensions between the requirements of the business users, and the capabilities to manage the technology of the IT department. The result of this silo'ed approach is that IT resources are locked in to technologies, and organisations face expensive retraining or new hiring cost if technologies new to the organisation are selected. The new more holistic approach to Systems Management is that of simplification, so that the IT department can manage the technology stack at a higher level, and therefore enable it to manage a wider range of technologies more efficiently.
The market in Systems Management has evolved over recent years, the leading vendors have all integrated the ability to monitor and manage a variety of infrastructure components, from virtual servers to network switches, in to their solutions. The other major transformation over recent years has been the acceptance that IT departments need standardised process and procedures so that the delivery of IT as a service can be managed more effectively. This IT Service Management focus has seen many Systems Management vendors use the ITILŪ classifications when describing capabilities. However, this Report is focused on the Systems Management capabilities and not Service Management, and as a result we have identified that only seven major vendors have the breath of coverage to be included in this Report.
Additional Information
This Report reveals:
How organisations should approach the deployment of systems management.
Why Business Service Management is a key enabling capability of any systems management tool.
The differences between IT Service Management and IT Systems Management.
How IT Systems Management can help transform the way IT departments operate.
The business challenges, opportunities, and benefits that systems management addresses.
Why management of the infrastructure will become a significant influence on the added value that virtualisation technologies can deliver.
How systems management capabilities are changing the skills and competencies needed in IT.
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