LandAmerica to track application, virtual system health with Netuitive

10/06/08

As LandAmerica Financial Group worked to centralize and streamline company title and escrow systems, IT leaders at the real estate transaction services company realized an investment in performance management software might be necessary to provide both executives and technicians with a comprehensive view of the environment.

Big four management vendors face competition from all sides

10/01/08

The incumbent management technology market leaders BMC, CA, HP and IBM manage to stay ahead of a pack of would-be contenders, but industry watchers argue the time might be coming in which the competition might have a shot at unseating one of the big four management vendors.

Digital Fuel builds its ITSM foundation

09/29/08

IT service management encompasses several disciplines ranging from service desk to service-level management (SLM) to ITIL processes, and Digital Fuel plans to address the gamut with its hosted offerings that help enterprise service desk managers create service catalogs, define service levels and better manage support across the organization.

Service desk staff challenged with more complexity, less resources

09/24/08

Service desk employees often take the brunt of complaint calls and deal with disgruntled end-users while manning the front line of IT, and a recent survey shows these staffers are handling more calls than ever - with fewer resources in some cases.

High hopes for Open Virtualization Format standard

09/22/08

News about management standards doesn't often excite industry watchers, but the recent debut of the Distributed Management Task Force's (DMTF) Open Virtualization Format standard could change all that.

Precise emerges as independent transaction performance management company

09/17/08

Application performance management companies rarely survive for any length of time on their own in the wild.

Management vendors continue to drop the V word

09/15/08

It's not enough to talk about virtualization any more; management vendors are lining up to show their support for the technology from VMware, Microsoft, Citrix and anyone else planning to make their name with virtual technologies.

CA, IBM bear fruits of CMDB spec

09/10/08

The configuration management database as a concept has companies considering new staff positions and management vendors adding tools to their product suites thanks to ITIL.

Free tools to manage, search virtual environments

09/08/08

Start-up vendors looking to grab some of the management software spotlight at VMworld 2008 next week recently released free software downloads designed to help IT managers track and search data on virtual machines (VM).

Surgient upgrades flagship software to automate virtual resource provisioning

09/03/08

Surgient this month is taking its virtual management and automation software out of the lab. The vendor, which made its start with tools to quickly set up and tear down virtual test environments, is broadening its reach with automation features that let end user request virtual resources on demand.

PacketTrap offers its network management Perspective

09/01/08

Start-up PacketTrap Networks this month will unveil its network management platform the company says offers advanced monitoring and reporting features at a competitive price.

A look at the Open Virtualization Format Specification

08/27/08

With VMworld 2008 upon us next month, the challenges virtualization presents IT managers is top of mind for many vendors and industry organizations.

IT pros sound off on managing applications

08/25/08

When asked recently about the priorities and challenges involved with managing applications, senior IT professionals had a lot to say.

Government agency plans big power savings with BigFix

08/20/08

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) estimates it can save between $750,000 and $50 million annually if a majority of government agencies implement power management software that would enable IT to program computers to automatically shut down during non-business hours.

Network behavior analysis secures Wayne State University

08/18/08

The IT security team at Wayne State University in Detroit wanted to get better visibility into the traffic crossing the urban institution's main and satellite locations. With some 33,000 students and 10,000 faculty, staff and employees using the network which includes 10,000 internal and 50,000 external hosts, the team turned to network behavior analysis (NBA) software from Q1 Labs.

ASG updates its MetaCMDB software

08/13/08

IT industry watchers embrace the premise of a configuration management database as the necessary foundation to a savvy service management strategy, but the practice of establishing an effective CMDB has yet to be standardized.

What is considered good application performance?

08/11/08

Like beauty is in the eye of the beholder, optimal application performance is in the experience of the end user. It's a subjective matter that can bewilder network managers trying to ensure every app performs as its end users expect. And while the process of determining what optimal application performance is can be ambiguous, it is crystal clear when the goal has not been met and end users are complaining about slow service and non-responsive applications.

Poor application performance translates to lost revenue, research shows

08/06/08

Poor application performance causes more than headaches for end users trying to access resources and network managers hoping to keep workers productive. It impacts a business bottom line and equals lost revenue to many organizations, a recent Aberdeen Research study shows.

Analyze Cisco's NetFlow for free

08/04/08

Network traffic data holds a wealth of information about application response time, network usage and bandwidth consumption. Getting at that data in an efficient and inexpensive manner would help network managers better understand and control their networks.

BMC delivers solid earnings - again

07/30/08

Management software maker BMC kicked off fiscal 2009 with significant revenue increases that have industry watchers confident the company will weather any economic challenges U.S. vendors could face this year.

Blue Cross Blue Shield spots symptoms before network, voice apps get sick

07/28/08

The enterprise network systems department at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) can't spend the majority of its time troubleshooting network, application and VoIP performance issues.

Managing an effective IT workforce

07/23/08

IT managers responsible for staffing their departments can no longer rely only on specific certifications and specialized experience when looking to create an IT team that can address business demands and anticipate future needs.

ITIL-based service management from the mainframe

07/21/08

Large enterprise companies that need guaranteed high performance and scalability for their service management applications might want to consider StreamFoundry's software suite that addresses several tenets laid out in ITIL while running on an IBM mainframe.

Tips for finding IT work online

07/16/08

IT professionals looking for permanent positions in high-tech seem to be facing more challenges than in the past, and numerous online career sites promise to expedite the process with social networking and other features designed to bring the best listing directly to job-seekers' desktops.

New IT job: CMDB manager

07/14/08

Enterprise IT departments looking to successfully deploy and maintain a configuration management database should also consider redefining one staffer's responsibilities and role into CMDB manager, according to a recent report from Forrester Research.

More

Denise Dubie is senior editor with Network World.