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Systems and security management provider NetIQ on Oct. 25 threw its hat into the IT process automation ring with the launch of a new run book automation platform.
The Aegis run book automation platform, which has several patents pending, pits NetIQ against behemoths like BMC Software, through BMCs RealOps acquisition, and Hewlett-Packard, which acquired iConclude run book automation technology through its acquisition of Opsware.
Those acquisitions validated the market for run book automation, according to Travis Greene, chief service management strategist for the NetIQ unit of Attachmate, in Seal Beach, Calif.
“We feel a more general platform that can automate any IT process is an advantage,” Greene said, comparing the Aegis platform with competitive offerings.
Read more here about iConclude and run book automation.
NetIQ, which has been working on its Aegis platform for two years, initially sought to integrate its various tools, but found that customers wanted more.
“Customers wanted integration with trouble-ticketing, provisioning systems [and more] to round out IT management. They wanted to tie all those together in the context of process. We found that required a normalization layer and the ability to control [other] tools with a top layer,” Greene said.
In architecting the platform, NetIQ also chose to create a correlation engine as a separate component that acts as a front end to IT workflows. “You have to intelligently decide when conditions are right to launch a workflow,” explained Mark Jones, senior product manager for NetIQ, in Seattle.
That sets Aegis apart from other run book automation offerings, said Gartner analyst David Williams. “It is one of the more advanced technologies in the market because it is embedding intelligence into the workflow—even though they are doing it with their own products first,” he said.
Aegis, aimed at making IT more efficient by bringing better process controls and automation, will initially integrate with NetIQs AppManager performance and availability management offering. Later releases will add integration with NetIQs Security Manager, Change Guardian and Secure Configuration Manager as well as with HPs OpenView Operations, BMCs Remedy trouble-ticketing system and EMCs Smarts root cause analysis software.
Click here to read about NetIQs acquisition by Attachmate.
Aegis allows users to model, automate, measure and improve IT Infrastructure Library processes. Along with the process automation and correlation engine, it includes an ESB (Enterprise Service Bus) that enables integration with other tools, an interactive Web console that allows users to view process execution, process improvement metrics and reporting, and workflow modeling.
The first release of Aegis is due in late November.
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