Intelligent Management Software that Integrates and Automates   

By:  Diane Hage
Software Sales Manager
Datatrend Technologies, Inc.

Today's e-businesses face new challenges ---- a growing volume of data, increased transactions, a need to more quickly respond to market changes, and increasingly complex IT infrastructures. As your customer demands evolve, the way you compete in the marketplace must change, as should your technology.

Most customers have been steadily adding more and more technology to run on bigger and better hardware, making effective systems management now the bedrock of your IT environment. Historically, companies have focused on managing individual servers, networks, and routers, but few have linked IT to their company' key business drivers. Your environment may be made up of heterogeneous systems that must be managed in one single, integrated way. It is no longer good enough for systems management to identify problems so someone can be dispatched to solve them. Said another way, a machine waiting for a human to tune it is an expensive proposition. Companies today need technology to help manage complex systems - with minimal human intervention - giving IT professionals the opportunity to work more strategically -- and measurably impact their business.

Effective e-business infrastructure management is about understanding how your infrastructure affects your business: Which and how many users are affected? What's happening where and why? How do you predict and prevent trouble? What is actually stored and where on your systems? Your success depends on your ability to control the effort and cost required to successfully adapt to the business needs of growing revenue, containing costs, and keeping a competitive advantage to an ever more mobile customer world.

An integral part of the comprehensive IBM e-business infrastructure solution, Tivoli technology management software helps traditional enterprises and emerging e-businesses maximize their existing and future technology investments. Tivoli has recently consolidated and upgraded its product portfolio to better enable customers to accomplish a road to business impact management. The four areas include:

 Performance and Availability  management solutions: Designed to constantly gather information on hardware, software and network devices to accurately predict and often, fix problems before they actually occur. (IBM Tivoli Monitoring offerings and Service Level/Web Site Analyzer offerings)

Configuration and Operation  management solutions: Helping you distribute software reliably and securely, automate workflow, and remotely control systems and applications. This includes a faster software recognition capability for UNIX and PC's, as well as an enhanced mobile support for laptops. (IBM Tivoli Workload Scheduler, Configuration Manager, and Remote Control offerings)

Security management solutions: Out of the box integration with over 100 vendors and J2EE applications, these products are also tightly integrated with Websphere (IBM Tivoli Access, Risk, and Identity Manager offerings)

Storage management solutions   : While IBM Tivoli Storage Management (ITSM) solutions ensure the most reliable backup and restore offerings, ITSM now includes that capability for most databases, ERP, application server, and hardware data without impacting the performance of your network or mission-critical applications. (IBM Tivoli Storage Manager, ITSM for Application Servers, Databases, Hardware, Mail, and Enterprise Resource Planning).

 SO HOW CAN DATATREND HELP ME MAKE SENSE OF ALL THIS? Datatrend can help you understand the changes, and work with you to proactively make the right choices for your company environment. For example, let's drill down a bit more on the Storage solutions, and how Datatrend and IBM Tivoli software solutions can help you integrate and automate your IT environment, and more proactively help your enterprise manage the business impact of your IT operations.

First of all, let's help you make sense of the new Tivoli announcements.

Packaging and Branding/New Naming : Are you familiar with TSM as the acronym for Tivoli Storage Manager? Don't be surprised when you see the new term ITSM (incorporating the IBM brand, to reflect IBM Tivoli Storage Manager ). Same product, different name.

Fewer Product offerings; logical product groupings : Tivoli has realigned their portfolio of products from multiple single-function offerings into logical single products with multiple capabilities (47% fewer products, without ANY reduction in product function/capability!) This allows the IT manager to respond better to business changes, simplifies your ordering process, and in many cases can enhance the functionality of the your solution.

IBM Tivoli Data Protection for Databases (ITDP for Databases): For example, instead of three separate IBM Tivoli Data Protection products (one for Oracle, one for Microsoft SQL server, and another for Informix), a customer can today purchase ITDP for Databases, a single software module which works with IBM Tivoli Storage Manager, yet combines the 3 Data Protection products into one offering. So now, regardless of which brand of database you use, where it is, or how it is stored in those applications or databases, ITDP for Databases allows the centralized and automated data protection capabilities, while exploiting the backup-certified utilities and interfaces provided for those three products. This in turn helps optimize your investment,  manage costs, and gives you the ability to recover data quickly and comprehensively in the event of a system failure. One benefit is the ability to, (working in conjunction with your ITSM server), enable "hot" or online backups, as well as incremental backups. These two benefits help maintain the integrity of your backup files, reduce network traffic by saving only changed database blocks, and in turn minimizes disruption to the daily user. You can also perform multiple parallel sessions as well as send a backup to two separate storage tapes simultaneously.

Using Informix? This same ITSM Data Protection product will allow you to apply the automated storage management functions of your ITSM server to Informix 32-bit and 64-bit databases.

What if you're using IBM DB2 Universal Database? Well then, the functionality of ITSM for Databases is already included in this offering and does not need to be purchased separately.

What about LAN-free and serverless data transfer? ITSM for Databases supports LAN-free data transfer to offload the LAN from network traffic in SAN environments, allowing you to have an alternate path for data movement, greater number of simultaneous client connections, and freeing up your LAN bandwidth. It can help realize a "near zero-impact" backup by leveraging the IBM Enterprise Storage Server "Shark" FlashCopy function. Combining these products can help you avoid backup-related impact during online backup time.

 Pricing Simplification : There are dramatic pricing changes for Storage, in most cases, saving you, the customer, real dollars. Pricing is an environment-managed model, rather than an architecture-model for the hardware platform, not the OS. Support is automatically included in the pricing structure, and with a per processor cost basis, there is no pricing differentiation between RISC and Intel servers. This brings all customer environments the benefits of a better ROI, simplified renewals process, and steeper discounts at higher Passport Advantage levels. This is a key differentiate between Tivoli and other storage management solutions.

IBM TIVOLI STORAGE RESOURCE MANAGER (ITSRM) : This is one of the most exciting announcements of the October 9th Tivoli Product Launch. IBM acquired TrelliSoft, and has incorporated their state-of-the-art solution into an IBM Tivoli product, and one of IBM's many offerings in the area of AUTONOMIC computing.

 WHAT'S AUTONOMIC COMPUTING? Self-management of e-business infrastructures; the ability of self-configure, self-heal, self-optimize, and self-protect systems to allow them to dynamically adapt to change in accordance with business policies and objectives. ITSRM automatically identifies potential problems and executes policy-based actions to prevent or resolve storage issues, minimize storage costs, and ensure application availability. It even installs in minutes! ITSRM can reside on a Windows, UNIX, or Linux server, regardless of which resources it's monitoring. The repository can be managed through DB2 Software or any DBMS you choose. Best of all, this solution can be accessed through a universal web-based portal. With this tool, you'll be able to look out over all your storage and analyze:

• What information do I actually have on all my storage devices (Identify)
• Why is my storage growing? How much worthless data is being stored? (Evaluate)
• Which systems should be migrated to new technology? What policies and alerts should be put in place? (Control)
• How can I manage to future usage and growth trends and forecasts? (Predict)

With ITSRM, you can reduce your total cost of ownership, protect and maximize your storage investments, accurately forecast future needs, prevent storage downtime, provide accurate usage information to data owners, and simplify the administration of your storage environment.

 WHERE DOES DATATREND FIT IN? As your Tivoli "go to" partner, Datatrend brings extensive experience in the area of pSeries, xSeries, and design and implementation of Tivoli Solutions in Storage Area Networks. We have a world class Solution Center, with facilities in-house for extensive analysis and testing of your solution. Using the new ITSRM offering, we will gladly help you in an analysis of your storage usage and needs, with a Logical Physical/Design Study, a process we created that results in a documentation set that serves as a blueprint for discovery, analysis, and recommendations based upon your requirements.

WHAT IF I ALREADY HAVE A COMPETING STORAGE SOLUTION INSTALLED? Again, Datatrend stands ready to help. For a limited time period, if you currently have a storage management/backup product from Veritas®, Legato®, or Computer Associates, we will give you a trade-in value of 50% (or more) off IBM Tivoli Storage Manager, as well as any additional modules you may need to complete your backup strategy. Your exact discount will be based on your current backup/storage environment, and assumes shipment of the ITSM software by December 31, 2002.

WANT TO LEARN MORE? If you're close by, plan on enrolling in our Tivoli Storage Briefing session, Wednesday morning, November 6th, here at Datatrend. If you're farther away, give me a call at Datatrend, and I'll be glad to schedule some time with you to review your needs, and help define the right solution with you.

Datatrend has long been one of the most respected IT Solution Providers in the country, delivering world class solutions, an enterprise-wide approach to solution design and implementation, end-to-end customized e-business solutions, and the finest strategic alliances for your business issues. Count on us to also help you with your Software licensing, renewals, Passport Advantage issues, and software solutions. Software is an integral part of today's e-business solutions, and Datatrend stands ready to help you with your IBM Tivoli, Websphere, Data Management, and Lotus software needs. Just work through your Datatrend rep or contact me directly by email,  Diane.Hage@datatrend.com, or by phone, (952) 931-1203 or toll-free (800) 367-7472, ext. 105.

Datatrend's TrendSetter eNewsletter
October 15, 2002