Virtualisation software that enables companies to deploy
and install software on tens of thousands of laptops, desktop PCs,
wireless devices and servers has been launched by IBM.
Tivoli Provisioning Manager is designed to help clients reduce
the time it takes to manage and upgrade systems, by as much as
hours or days, depending on the size of the infrastructure.
IBM believes that managing IT services has become more
challenging as technology grows more complex. IBM estimates state
that costs related to changing and deploying software on servers
accounts for 70% of an organisation's total IT costs; and at least
half the people in an organisation's IT staff manage and support
existing technology instead of developing and maintaining
applications.
Automating changes to IT systems, such as application upgrades
and security patches, should improve lengthy, error-laden processes
such as making changes, thus freeing up system administrators to
handle other tasks.
IBM asserts that Tivoli Provisioning Manager senses when the
network can handle software upgrades and automatically begins those
upgrades when there is sufficient network bandwidth. It also runs
automatic compliance checks - such as validating that antivirus
software is up to date - and deploys the software across the
infrastructure.
"Automation is key to making virtualised environments
efficient," says Dave Lindquist, IBM Tivoli chief architect.
"The ability to modulate how network bandwidth is utilised
allows customers to deploy truly flexible, dynamic infrastructures
in a way that supports business goals."
Tivoli Provisioning Manager softare includes two new
virtualisation technologies. Adaptive bandwidth control gives
important business operations priority but allows administrative IT
tasks, like anti-virus updates, to be handled whenever network
space is available. Peering is a new grid computing-based approach
to distributing software over long distances that allows files to
be downloaded from a local server or a nearby desktop.
Software is delivered faster to computer users while network
traffic and hardware required to support high-traffic volumes are
reduced.