BMC Software next week will outline its plans to weave technologies it obtained through its Remedy Corp. and IT Masters International S.A. acquisitions into the next evolution of its product line, dubbed Business Service Management.
The Houston-based enterprise management provider will use the workflow engine acquired with Remedys Action Request System as the mechanism to help IT manage its own processes in better alignment with business objectives, according to sources close to BMC.
BMC will combine its existing application monitoring, database monitoring, systems monitoring and end-to-end response time capabilities with the workflow engine and trouble-ticketing system in ARS. What IT Masters, which BMC acquired earlier this week, brings to the table is improved correlation and more scalable event management, sources said. BMC officials declined to comment on its plans.
With Business Service Management, BMC will combine asset data with the ability to manage the flow of information from a service perspective. “The ability to know who the end user is, what software and PC they are using, and what impact an event has on that user is huge. No one has had the appropriate parts and been able to get it all working together,” said one source familiar with BMCs plans.
“IT is getting to the point where it needs to behave like a real business. Its time to find ways to streamline how people work together within IT and stop this silo nonsense,” said Jasmine Noel, principal at JNoel Associates, a Boston-based consulting firm. “People are saying IT needs to embed workflow technology or use process modeling—thats what BMC bought Remedy for.”
The IT Masters acquisition draws the event management company into tighter control, and it delivers key correlation technology that allows users to model and display IT infrastructure elements correlated with the services being delivered. BMC had already been reselling and conducting joint marketing activities with IT Masters, headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, with a main U.S. location in Austin, Texas. IT Masters flagship MasterCell event management software is already integrated with the Remedy Action Request System. BMC acquired IT Masters for $42 million in cash. Its $350 million Remedy acquisition closed last November.
Some observers believe that BMC still has more acquisitions up its sleeve. “Expect additional new functionality through acquisitions,” said Rich Ptak, an independent consultant in Amherst, N.H. “Dont be surprised if BMC expands its capabilities into automated problem avoidance with acquisitions that could include provisioning and configuration management firms.”