Computer Associates International has edged into the
hosted software market, making the latest version of its Web
Services Distributed Management (WSDM) software available as a
managed service.
"This is our first foray into a hosted service for our
customers," said chief technology officer Yogesh Gupta. "The world
is changing. Customers want flexibility in how they deploy our
products."
So far, no customers are signed up for the hosting service,
which Gupta said will carry licensing costs comparable to those for
WSDM's traditional, on-site installation license.
"You don’t have to install the software, so you save some of
those headaches and costs… but I don't believe cost is going to be
the primary driver," he said. Pricing for WSDM varies depending on
the number and type of web services monitored.
CA also released WSDM's latest version, 3.1. The update adds a
development kit for easing integration with third-party software,
as well as support for additional protocols such as Common Object
Request Broker Architecture and electronic data interchange.
To demonstrate WSDM's functionality and show off its own hosting
capabilities, CA has launched a web services performance index, at
www.ca.com/webservices/perfindex/.
The site reports results from its monitoring of a selection of
publicly available web services.
Stacy Cowley writes for IDG News
Service