Businesses running IBM mainframes will be able through their Tivoli management software to get a better grasp on how they use applications on the massive systems.
The Armonk, N.Y., company Thursday announced it is buying New York-based Isogon Corp., a privately-held company that it has partnered with since 1997. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. IBM expects the purchase to close in the third quarter.
Isogons technology, in its Galaxy software suite, enables customers to see into the software usage on the zSeries systems, including what software is running, how much its being used and how much its costing to run it, said Kurt Johnson, manager of marketing strategy for IBMs Tivoli unit.
“If I didnt know what I have on the zSeries, didnt know how much its being used or what its costing us, itd be hard to plan [what to run on the mainframes],” Johnson said. “What Isogon does is answer these questions very specifically.”
That will take much of the guesswork out of planning software usage on the mainframes, he said.
Tivoli License Manager already does this for the distributed systems running Windows, Linux, Unix and other platforms. With the Isogon software, IBM—through the Tivoli suite—can offer complete software usage capabilities throughout its systems, Johnson said. In addition, it brings contract-management capabilities to the distributed systems.
Customers, through a Web browser interface, can get a clear view of how much the software is costing them by tracking the usage and comparing it to licenses and contracts.
IBM has been using Isogons technology in-house and has been doing first-level integration of it into the Tivoli suite, Johnson said.
It also fits in with IBMs Mainframe Charter, which calls for lowering a customers total cost of ownership in running a zSeries system, and its on-demand strategy of enabling IT resources to respond to business needs, he said.
Most of Isogons employees will be folded into the Tivoli division once the deal closes, he said.
