Infrastructure Management Software Blog : IT operations

Consolidated Event Management Podcast

pspielvogel — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:26:00 GMT

My colleague and consolidated event management guru Jon Haworth has recorded a podcast with Dennis Drogseth of EMA about the benefits of consolidated IT event management. During this 15 minute podcast, Dennis and Jon discuss:

Benefits of an integrated approach to IT Operations
Key groups, titles, organizations, roles, initiatives, etc. needed to drive an integrated approach to managing Operations
The key underlying technologies
Where event consolidation fits

Listen to the Consolidated Event Management podcast (registration required)

At Software Universe, many of my conversations with customers focused on how then can use Operations Manager to consolidate events from across their organization.

For Operations Center, Peter Spielvogel

Implications of virtualization on IT operations (Software Universe presentation)

pspielvogel — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:03:00 GMT

Both HP Software Universe and HP Technology Forum and Expo will occur next week in Las Vegas. What is new this year is attendees of HP Technology Forum can attend a portion for HP Software Universe for a nominal fee. Details are available online or on-site during the registration process.

I am very excited and fortunate to be presenting the following presentation at both events.

Implications of virtualization on IT operations
Abstract: Virtualization is becoming a key driver toward eliminating IT infrastructure costs (CAPEX) yet it is unclear as to the implications it will have on operating expense (OPEX). Virtualization implementations create a new set of challenges for IT Operations. In this session we will consider those challenges as compared with the lessons learned from past disruptive technologies (i.e. client server, web services, etc...) and use the conclusions reached to help you deal with the virtualization wave in an cost effective manner. You will also have an opportunity to provide feedback that will help influence HP’s future direction in event and performance management for the virtualization ecosystem.

Tuesday June 16, 2009 2:30pm at HP Technology Forum and Expo – Session 3761

Wednesday June 17, 2009 at 2:30pm at Software Universe – Session 1070

If you have any topics you would like covered during the presentations, please leave a comment on the blog or contact me directly.

The Operations Team will be posting updates from the show on this blog.

For Operations Center, Dennis Corning.

A New Puppy, IT Operations and the Economy

pspielvogel — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 21:43:00 GMT

My family and I picked up a new Brittany puppy this past Thursday with mass excitement mixed with some degree of uncertainty. Yeah, I know what you are thinking: What were you thinking? We took a stable situation and introduced something new and exciting in the hope of improving the overall environment.

With the economy tsunami we are in, it may not the best time to expand a family from 4 to 5. The weeks prior to picking up Clancy were spent reading various puppy care books from our local library to ensure we were ready. I was expecting to find a single “how to” book/manual but each writer had a little different advice and perspective. I suspect the variety of opinions might be similar to the numerous bosses you have had in your IT Operations career.

My family is making sacrifices to improve our quality of life by adding Clancy. Any spare time we had before is now consumed by the usually duties of feeding, walking, and picking up after him. One significant change I anticipate for my kids is as nothing can be left on the floor. Before the puppy came home it was ok to leave something out if you are going to use it again. My kids probably took this liberty for granted. I suspect this eye-opening adjustment to strategically placed toys is similar to the shock IT Operations teams face today learning that their standard allocation of budget to keep the lights on will probably shrink significantly this year.

Prior to the downturn in the economy it was standard practice for a company to spend 70% of its IT budget “keeping the lights on”. Was 70% the right amount to allocate? Should it remain the same to avoid impacting service levels? I am afraid I do not have an answer to this question nor do I believe many IT Operations Managers know for sure. I do not claim to have magic pixie dust, no book or manual of running IT operations in the year 2009-2010.

What I can tell you from a recent market study is that many IT organizations buy Performance and Availability monitoring tools along with an Event Management system with good intentions. They plan to “centralize event processing” at an Operations Bridge inside their organization but for various reasons never quite get there.

The study revealed that most companies have more than one event console in their IT Organization and provides an opportunity to reduce CAPEX and OPEX by streamlining their IT Operations process and tool sets. Now given the fact most IT budgets will be cut, is this the time to change your environment to a centralized console for event management? It worked for HP, but we need to eat our own dog food.

Are you willing to take the leap and endure some short term discomfort to permanently lower your IT cost structure?

For Operations Center, Dennis Corning.