IBM Solution for Better Service Management
By Subashini Selvaratnam
AN effective IT service delivery and management requires the integration of people, process, information and tools. With this in mind, IBM Corp has unveiled IT Service Management, which the company claims is the first set of software and services that help users automate and standardise the way they design and integrate IT processes, from releasing a security patch to changing or adding a server across separate departments within the enterprise.
According to IBM’s managing consultant, integrated technology services Asia-Pacific Michael Shallcross, the process-oriented solution addresses customers’ priorities and requirements. This means IT Service Management translates IT processes into manageable services and automates the integration, he says.
Benefits include delivering IT services effectively and efficiently; quantifiable process performance with end-to-end process measurements and quantification; tighter integration across technology, information and people; and increasing IT organisational productivity by breaking down IT silos through data and workflow integration.
IT Service Management comprises three areas: IT process managers, IT service management platform and technology products.
Under IT process managers, the initial offerings are Tivoli Availability Management, Tivoli Information Lifecycle Management and Tivoli Release Management.
The IT service management platform consists of three components: the configuration management database, workflow engine and automated process workflow. The configuration management database is an open and federated model that offers features such as application program interface and graphical user interface reporting access.
The workflow engine is based on WebSphere technology, offering features such as process modelling and simulation as well as real- time monitoring and reporting, while the automated process workflow comprises change and configuration management.
As for the technology products, these include continued investments in infrastructure management products, integration of IT service management through components such as service-oriented architectures and the Tivoli change and configuration management database.
IBM is also enhancing its existing Tivoli products to support IT Service Management. These include Tivoli Provisioning Manager and Tivoli Configuration Manager, which together help automate the way changes are implemented in an IT infrastructure.
The new versions automatically find and acquire security patches, determine which machines require them, deploy them, and then verify security compliance.