Job scheduling and workload management provider Cybermation Inc. is preparing to release at the end of the month a major new version if its ESP Alchemist change management system.
The tool, which straddles the fence between applications development staff and operations staff, provides full lifecycle change management, from the process for building, testing maintaining and deploying new applications to version control and repository management.
ESP Alchemist 5.1, which runs on IBMs OS/390 but manages the change process for a variety of distributed systems, adds new agents that allows it out to provide services for all the platforms it supports, according to Cybermation officials in Toronto, Ontario.
The new release of the tool also adds a thin-client, browser-based interface that allows operators to access the repository from the Web.
Cybermation is unique in bridging the gap between applications development and operations, according to company officials. Tools from Computer Associates International Inc. and Rational Systems Inc. address software deployment, but dont provide the full breadth of change management on the development side, according to Ray Nissan, chairman of Cybermation.
The ESP Alchemist process begins by providing developers with a repository complete with check out/check in services. It then provides: services for packaging changes together into requests; facilities for establishing the lifecycle of development and regression testing; tools for moving objects between the platforms; and facilities for generation management to insure executables are built properly. It also includes approval and notification facilities as well as a full audit trail, security, and language recognition.
The nascent market for software change management is waking up to the requirement for automating such tasks has become more complex and affects external users who are often customers, Nissan said.
“You have to change software more frequently today and the impact of a badly implemented change is much more severe. Errors are immediately visible to outside customers,” he said.
The new release is due out at the end of the month. It supports OS/390, Linux, and Windows NT/2000.