Enterasys' management software offers IT staffs greater control over virtualized environments with an all-encompassing view of the data center infrastructure.
Enterasys Networks executives in June unveiled
a data center networking strategy that is designed to take on larger rivals
like Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard and Brocade Communications, and started
with improvements to its S-Series family of switches.
Enterasys
on Nov. 15 rolled out the next step in its data center strategy with the Enterasys
Data Center Manager, a solution that officials say offers greater automation,
visibility and control over all the components of the data center, including
servers, networks, storage and applications.
While
the solution manages both physical and virtual environments, it's the new
technologies like virtualization that the software is designed to help out
with, according to Enterasys President and CEO
Chris Cowell.
"Data center managers are under constant pressure to improve processes,
reduce costs and manage increasingly disparate resources, while continuing to
deploy new technologies such as virtualization," Crowell said in a
statement. "By providing integrated tracking and monitoring of
virtual machines (VMs) and applications and an integrated view of virtual
server and network environments, Enterasys Data Center Manager allows IT
administrators to bring together the 'islands' that exist in the data
center. "
The
offering from Enterasys, a Siemens Enterprise Communications company, enables
enterprises to track the movement of VMs and ensure they get the necessary
network resources when they're provisioned, regardless of where on the network
it's located, according to the company. IT administrators also can group VMs
together depending on their workloads.
In
addition, the DCM works with a variety of
virtualization platforms, including those from Citrix Systems, VMware and
Microsoft. The goal is to give IT departments greater flexibility when choosing
a platform, servers or storage devices, according to Enterasys officials.
Such
an agnostic approach is a key part of Enterasys' data center strategy. When
they first introduced their data center strategy, company officials said it is
their high level of support for heterogeneous environments that will set it
apart from their larger competitors.
HP,
Cisco and others are aggressively expanding their data center offerings as
businesses look for greater integration within their infrastructures. The
vendors-through in-house technology and partnerships-offer everything from
servers and storage devices to networking products, management software and
virtualization.
However,
though HP, Cisco, Brocade and other vendors talk about how open their offerings
are, the eventual goal is to tie customers into their products, Barry Cioe,
vice president of product management marketing at Enterasys, told eWEEK at the
time.
"When
you peel away the veneer, you'll see the goal is to tie in customers to a
homogeneous environment," Cioe said.
CEO
Crowell said Enterasys' broad vendor support is a key differentiator for the
company.
"Enterasys DCM provides
vendor-agnostic support, enabling companies to leverage existing investments
and reduce overall total cost of ownership," he said.
Email
Print
