Triton Gets Applications to Cooperate

Tidal Software Inc. has taken the multiapplication, multiserver scheduling and workload management functionality of its sysAdmiral job scheduling software and added an event-response mechanism.

The new product, called Triton 1.5 and due to be announced midmonth, enables companies to rapidly and noninvasively integrate tasks and scripts into their data centers through lightweight adapters, according to company officials in Mountain View, Calif.

Designed to solve operational fragmentation caused by integrating legacy data center processing with Internet-based applications, Triton automates tasks over disparate applications.

The real-time capability that results when an event trigger is reached—for example, when an order is placed—is put to work with a programmable Fix Action command that allows companies to automate fixes for typical errors that occur in processing.

In addition, the software hooks into a companys network monitoring programs and sends alerts when there is a problem, informs IT managers how that problem affects business processes and allows action to be taken.

Additional functions include Process Modeling, a visual tool for building a process run-time workflow; a process run-time engine that is scalable to several million process steps; a simulation mode; and shadowing capabilities that kick in if the program goes down.

"No one else is targeting the data center as a key area [in which] to solve business problems," said Tyler McDaniel, an analyst with Hurwitz Group Inc., in Framingham, Mass. "Its not a very sexy area. Its not interesting, like with business-to-business, e-marketplaces and private exchanges. Its much more the traditional area that is the heart of IT."

What should be compelling to IT managers, McDaniel said, is Tritons ability to pull data from scripts and incorporate it. "These are ad hoc kinds of scripts," McDaniel said. "[Triton] gives the IT world more direct code-level control and, ultimately, gives [scripts] higher value to the enterprise."

Tidal is working on upgrades to Triton—such as enhanced script management tools—for the next version, which is due later this year.