Using Virtualization to Maximize Your IT Environment

WORKING PAPER FROM THE OFFICE OF THE CTO: VIRTUALIZATION
Using Virtualization to
Maximize Your IT
Environment
JANUARY 2008VERSION 1.0
Edited by Peter A RichardsonDIRECTOR OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT, OFFICE OF THE CTOTable of Contents
Executive Summary Overview of Virtualization Management Today 5Managing Virtual Platform Environments TodayPrologue 2 Multiple Management Tools Introduction 3 Server SprawlVirtualization Virtualization and Opportunities Overview of CA's Virtualization Management for IT Governance 8Vision and Strategy 4 Adding Value to VirtualizationComplement or Competition? Summary 9
Copyright © 2008 CA. All rights reserved. All trademarks, trade names, service marks and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies. This document is for your informational purposes only. To the extent permittedby applicable law, CA provides this document "As Is" without warranty of any kind, including, without limitation, any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, or noninfringement. In no event will CA beliable for any loss or damage, direct or indirect, from the use of this document, including, without limitation, lost profits, business interruption, goodwill or lost data, even if CA is expressly advised of such damages.Executive SummaryThe business of managing IT infrastructures has reached a crossroads. The number of globalplayers is shrinking through mergers and acquisitions while the playing field, also known asthe customer's IT environment, has become exceedingly complex and difficult to manage.Seemingly overnight, the volume of content you must manage, identify, maintain and alignwith business needs has exploded and the sheer number of connected devices has becomeoverwhelming.
Mostly limited to monitoring and alerting you as to the problems they encounter, we believecurrent IT management approaches are outdated and insufficient with regard to provisioningappropriate responses to the issues you are facing. To achieve any real resolution under the traditional model, you simply must be able to do more than scrutinize the virtualenvironment - and that often requires a tremendous investment in human resources tofacilitate personal and individual response to the alerts themselves. With more and more ofyour IT budget dedicated to "keeping the doors open and the lights on", however, there islittle left over for developing new IT strategies or adding new value and services to yourbusiness.
CA believes there is another way. Our innovative approach will help you better leverage yourcurrent IT investments, integrate them in new and impactful ways and also help you get ahandle on the growing cost and complexity of your systems. This approach is evolutionary,but the affect will be revolutionary - and deliver a higher level of service to your users andcustomers.
This working paper presents CA's corporate and technology strategy behind appropriatevirtualization management positioning and commitments as an important element inpreparation for the move toward that model in your IT environment and discusses thespecific CA products and efforts that can help you respond to and harness the power ofvirtualization management to ensure customer value within your own "Cyber Monday."
WORKING PAPER FROM THE OFFICE OF THE CTO: VIRTUALIZATION 1PrologueIt is a Cyber Monday for a retail business with a large web-based B2C presence. By Cyber Monday,we are referring to the phenomenon of a major surge in customer access and service level demandafter a holiday weekend. In the US, the best example is the post-Thanksgiving kick-off to theChristmas shopping season. In the months leading up to this Cyber Monday, our business inquestion has made a number of strategic acquisitions to broaden its portfolio and towardrealization of its goal to ensure a higher dollar-to-transaction ratio per customer and even betteroverall customer service.
The company's IT organization has also been busy hardening its environment. Concurrently, it isrolling out a new data center to support an expansion in Europe and integrating all of the newlyacquired departments and operations. With all the progress and change within the IT environmentand in spite of having to contend with a potential tsunami of customer data volume, security issuesand transactions, this customer's data center and the CIO are alert and anticipatory bu... [download for more]