By Siobhan Kennedy
Computer Associates International Inc yesterday threw its hat into the application and database management ring, launching a new software product which is the first in CAI’s line-up to include technology from Platinum Technology International Inc, acquired by CAI in March 1999. The product, called ManageIT, is strategically important for CAI as it pits the company up against the likes of the traditional applications management vendors like BMC Software and Boole and Babbage for the first time. CAI has offered portions of applications and database management before, but only from within its flagship Unicenter TNG systems management software, and none of it was very comprehensive.
Under yesterday’s announcement, the company said it has taken technology from Platinum’s ProVision systems management suite – which competed with BMC et al – and incorporated it with technology from its own portfolio to create a standalone offering that will directly compete in the applications and database management market. A spokesperson we talked to was a little sketchy on the finer details but he said that ManageIT is based on the Unicenter TNG framework and combines database optimization tools and intelligent knowledge agents from Platinum’s ProVision, with application, database and middleware management software from CAI. CAI is also linking the software with its Neugent technology, although it doesn’t appear that the agents will actually be integrated into ManageIT.
Platinum’s application specific knowledge agents gather data on processes and components within critical applications, such as SAP AG’s R/3 ERP suite, and pass that off to CAI’s Neugents, which analyze that data and identify patterns and anomalies that could lead to deterioration in performance or failure altogether. There are also agents for all the main relational and object oriented database systems including Oracle, Jasmine, Ingres II, MS SQL Server, Informix Sybase, UDB and so on, as well as agents for operating systems, groupware, email and middleware. As a result, says CAI, companies can use ManageIT to monitor the widest set of application parameters to pinpoint the root cause of problems and take corrective action automatically as required. ManageIT then presents this information to database administrators and/or other technical staff.
Predictably, CAI isn’t missing the opportunity to pin ManageIT to the current craze for e-business solutions. Yogesh Gupta, the company’s senior VP of product strategy said e-business was putting enormous pressure on IT departments to achieve round-the- clock reliability since clients are now affected directly and immediately by any problem with a back-end application. He said that ManageIT is designed to solve that problem by giving businesses the early warning system needed to prevent service failures that can lead to loss of revenues and customer dissatisfaction.
Colin Mahony, an analyst with the Yankee Group said it was easy to see why this was the first product to come out of the Platinum acquisition. It’s good for CA, he said, in the past it wasn’t focused on applications or databases and now it has a product to compete with BMC, Boole and Candle who have the lead in that space.
The company also announced a new desktop Year 2000 compliance assessment product called AimIT, produced in conjunction with services giant EDS. The software is based on CAI’s Unicenter TNG framework and inventory software and incorporates EDS’ Vendor 2000 database, which contains compliance data on 250,000 items from more than 5,000 suppliers. AimIT itemizes which assets – hardware, software, network and operating systems – are Y2K-ready and which need to be replaced or upgraded. Gupta said that companies have spent too much time concentrating on their back office systems and not enough looking at their desktop environment. He said the software would be available for free between now and the end of January 2000. ManageIT is available in beta now with general availability
at the end of the year.
