AST Database Technologies, the southern African distributor of BMC Software products, has established a local joint marketing venture with Baan aimed at bringing the benefits of BMC PATROL`s centralised management and pre-emptive monitoring to Baan environments. Joop Groeneveld, MD of AST Database Technologies, says the agreement follows the development of a PATROL Knowledge Module (KM) that provides functionality for users to monitor and manage key system components within the Baan application environment. "This should result in increased service levels, improved IT productivity and decreased cost of ownership," he says. "Other benefits include reduced downtime, automatically generated alerts about systems problems before users are impacted, a display of all active jobs and tracking of the number of Baan application licences registered, available and in use." Gary Lawrence, MD of Baan SA, is positive about the effect this agreement will have on local customers. "The integration of BMC PATROL - enabled by the KM - with Baan software improves the value proposition," he says. "And, as a result, more of our customers are endorsing Baan as their financial application suite of choice." Lawrence describes BMC PATROL as a tried-and-tested product for managing distributed computing environments. "It allows customers to optimise their investment because, instead of simply throwing additional hardware at a problem, they now have the opportunity to tune the software first," he says. Steve Green, technical manager at Baan SA, concurs, saying the technology is important to large sites because it helps to maintain version control and monitors performance as well as system log files. "With PATROL, multiple instances of Baan software can now be managed from a central console and support engineers can be dispatched to address problems before they adversely affect users," he says. Green says the agreement has international roots and stems from a partnership between Baan and BMC Software which allows for technical, sales and marketing co-operation between the two companies. "By mirroring that agreement locally through an arrangement with AST, we are not only able to provide customers with the [PATROL] product, but also offer them access to an extensive skills-base to assist with implementation," he adds. Baan and BMC Software Partnership With the signed partnership, BMC Software becomes the first systems management vendor to join the Baan Certified Applications Partner Program (Baan CAPPS). This programme is intended to foster a commitment by both companies to produce an operational, maintainable interface for customers. It allows for technical, sales and marketing co-operation related to application and data management. The initial result of the agreement is the PATROL KM to manage the Baan applications with collaboration also underway for the joint development of a standard third-party management Baan Business Process Connection (Baan BPC). Under this project, BMC Software and Baan will work together to define, develop, and deliver the standard system management BPC for Baan applications. The agreement positions BMC Software to expand into Baan market strongholds. In addition, deeper penetration in common industries such as automotive and common geographies such as Europe is expected.
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