News
CA To Ship Configuration Management Database
Computer Associates will ship in August a new database for storing configuration
management information for its CA Service Management Accelerator product.
The Islandia, N.Y. company says it will deliver a dedicated configuration management
database (CMDB) product that provides a common view of all configuration item
(CI) information and maps it to the relevant business services, according to
company officials.
By using so-called Universal Federation Adapters, including out-of-the-box
integration with Microsoft SMS, CA CMDB will be able to collect, manage and
maintain a single view of configuration data from CA, third-party IT management
applications and in-house developed applications and solutions.
The whole idea is to define and operate within a set of recognized standards
for best practices and compliance.
"IT service management processes have been created differently in every
IT shop...there has been no standardization," said David Hurwitz, CA's
vice president of business service optimization, in an interview.
By providing a common view of relationships and dependencies across the enterprise,
CA CMDB is meant to simplify and automate IT change and configuration management
processes. The database will come with more than 70 pre-defined relationship
types, as well as 140 pre-defined CI classes. It will also provide the ability
to generate 200 reports and queries out-of-the-box.
Pricing for CA CMDB has not been announced.
About the Author
Stuart J. Johnston has covered technology, especially Microsoft, since February 1988 for InfoWorld, Computerworld, Information Week, and PC World, as well as for Enterprise Developer, XML & Web Services, and .NET magazines.