IBM has invested more than $6 billion since 2005 in building and acquiring integrated service management (ISM) capabilities, and says it will continue to increase investments and innovations.
Speaking at the IBM Pulse 2010 conference, in Las Vegas, GM for IBM Tivoli software Alfred Zollar said new benchmarks and changing approaches to business infrastructure are changing the economics of service delivery.
The smarter planet demands a different approach to management systems in order to reduce complexity and manage risk, and the ISM approach will help equip companies with what they need, he noted.
“ISM provides software, management and expertise to manage infrastructure, people and services across design and delivery tailored for industry-specific requirements.”
Zollar added that innovations in service delivery are happening across industry lifecycles and at data centres as IBM introduces new capabilities to deliver credible outcomes for businesses.
ISM currently addresses unique security requirements of management; bridges workflow across design and delivery; creates unified management of service across business and IT; asset management across all classes; and creates the automated management of virtual and physical processes across distributed systems and mainframes.
Service challenges
The reality, however, is that a large number of companies are still struggling with old tools and processes, and trying to integrate, manage and secure processes, while attempting to reduce speed and cost, commented Zollar.
Without product or service design and delivery, companies are living with massive complexity and risk, he added. While software opens doors to services and products, implementing architecture applications to support them has proved challenging.
“Once the architecture is deployed into the real world, companies can experience unforeseen performance problems, or even worse, outages you can't afford.”
Intermittent problems, which do not necessarily signify a failure, but rather the “acting up” of systems, is a constant challenge. Topology also increases complexities, said Zollar.
Virtualisation and service-oriented architecture, network and application servers and supplier-provided infrastructure can add to complexities.
ISM can help companies deal with the sheer volume of dependency and help them overcome complexity and risk, noted Zollar.
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