LAS VEGAS—Computer Associates International Inc.s Chairman and CEO Sanjay Kumar in his keynote at CA World here last night previewed two new offerings that will further the aims of his companys On Demand Computing strategy.
Kumar in his address to CA customers hinted at a new technology to debut here later today that “redefines the idea of management,” he said.
The technology, code-named Sonar, automates the “mapping of discrete elements into the business process,” he said.
Sonar automatically discovers IT assets, catalogs them and maps them to the business processes they support, he described.
The technology also performs root cause analysis to help pinpoint the source of problems.
CA acquired the foundation of the technology with a small company called SilentRunner, a former Raytheon company, according to sources close to CA. SilentRunner, based in Reston, Va., sells network security and forensic tools, but oddly, the technology will initially be a part of the Unicenter lineup. However, some pieces of the technology will likely eventually also appear in some form in the Security Command Center, which CA will release on Tuesday.
Kumar, who predicted further consolidation in the software industry in his keynote, also previewed the Islandia, N.Y., companys new eTrust Vulnerability Manager. It can identify software components and their patch levels and analyze which vulnerability issues are most critical. The tool is intended to help IT wade through the morass of varying patch levels for different applications and operating systems to more quickly install necessary updates.
CA for its part has no plans to pursue major acquisitions, Kumar said, although he did not rule out small, technology-focused acquisitions that can help advance CAs On Demand Computing goals.
The eTrust Vulnerability Manager will be announced Tuesday and is based mainly on technology from eSecurity Online LLC, a division of Ernst & Young LLP, which CA acquired recently, sources close to the company confirmed. CA has been keeping the acquisitions of SilentRunner and eSecurity Online, based in Kansas City, Mo., quiet and doesnt plan any announcements about the purchases.
The exact dates and purchase prices of the acquisitions have not been released either, although sources say the SilentRunner purchase occurred in the first week of June and cost CA between $12 million and $16 million.
CA also did some of its own internal development on Vulnerability Manager and added that to the eSecurity Online technology.
The two acquisitions fit with CAs current emphasis on security. The company is betting heavily on the security event management market and is continuing to develop products and technologies that complement that strategy.
SilentRunners Enterprise Edition, its flagship product, is an appliance that handles network monitoring and forensic analysis. It pulls those events into a database that administrators can search. This type of technology is the foundation of SEM solutions, and will likely be tied into Security Command Center in the near future.
