by Stelio D'Alo
Network change and configuration management (NCCM) matters. That’s what network engineering teams are telling us. And when we check back with them, they often describe to us how the investment in our automation software paid for itself in months. I mention this because it’s a topic that everyone I talk to has on their mind: which IT software investments are safe bets? One of the reasons they are able to get that kind of ROI is because, they tell me, our app is easy to install and fast to become productive with, in part due to the browser-based GUI. More and more customers are starting to use HP NA (Network Automation) with HP NNMi (Network Node Manager i) and/or HP OO (Operations Orchestration) (see the Automated Network Lifecycle Management page hp.com/go/ANLM for additional material). As referenced in the Gartner report, the trend is towards linking Network Engineering to Network Operations and the rest of IT. Change management can be a pain , or it can be something that helps reduce mundane work and steal back some time to do those things that matter more. “Currently, NCCM tends to be a discipline unto itself, but in the future, it must increasingly be considered part of the configuration and change management processes for an end-to-end IT service and viewed as an enabler for the real-time infrastructure (RTI). This will require participation in the strategic, companywide change management process (usually implemented through the IT service desk tools) and integration with configuration management tools for other technologies, such as servers and storage.” Gartner MarketScope for Network Configuration and Change Management G00162055,Debra Curtis, David Williams, 21 November 2008*. You can access this report from our website on the HP Network Automation page under the +Analysts link, hp.com/go/NAsoftware. What’s your experience? Have you saved a ton of time with HP Network Automation software? If you have, and are willing to share an example, we’d love to hear from you.
I’m Stelio D’Alo a senior marketing manager for the Business Service Automation solution from HP Software. My background encompasses more than 20 years of industry experience in the fields of data center automation, enterprise software and telecommunications systems in Canada, Europe and the United States. I work with HP teams, including HP Partners, that help companies automate their data center operations with solutions including HP Network Automation, HP Network Node Manager and HP Operations Orchestration software.
*The MarketScope is copyrighted 21 November 2008 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The MarketScope is an evaluation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the MarketScope, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest rating. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose
Posted
03-31-2009 12:27 AM
by
Michael_Procopio