Two New EMC Software: Server Configuration Manager and Configuration Analytics Manager

EMC Corporation announced two new software solutions aimed at helping customers automate configuration and compliance management across their physical and virtual information infrastructures. Announced today, EMC Server Configuration Manager and EMC Configuration Analytics Manager provide customers with a unified approach for managing their IT infrastructures – including servers, networks, storage and applications – driving IT operational efficiencies, full compliance oversight, reduced business risk and continuous improvement.

In Server Configuration Manager, users can automatically discover and maintain detailed server configuration data. The solution includes pre-packaged compliance analysis tools and is able to automate remediation through its ‘right-click fix’ capability. In Configuration Analytics Manager, users can turn raw data into useful business information by tracking configuration changes over time and measuring key performance indicators to assist in continuous IT improvement.

"Software that enables companies to automate various IT processes is the key to being competitive in today’s market. The automation of change and configuration management is vital to minimizing IT staff time on maintenance tasks and reducing the chance for configuration errors," said Tracy Corbo, Senior Analyst, IDC. "Change is a constant in today’s fast paced IT environments. Managing change is top of mind for today’s IT professionals and they see automation as the key to effective change management. Large IT vendors have a key role to play in delivering these much-needed capabilities to their customers and — based on survey data — they should find a receptive audience."

Server Configuration Manager provides in-context integrations with both EMC Application Discovery Manager and EMC Smarts. The Application Discovery Manager integration helps companies better understand and leverage dependency relationships between servers – enabling more successful changes, a dramatic reduction in errors, and better alignment with compliance initiatives. The integration with Smarts delivers a highly automated solution for troubleshooting and management of resources across IT infrastructures – including networks, applications and servers. Finally, full support for VMware environments helps companies automatically achieve configuration compliance across both physical and virtual environments.

Leveraging Configuration Analytics Manager, users can create a single services model for monitoring, analyzing, planning and forecasting compliance and IT service levels by measuring key performance indicators and tracking data trends over time. Configuration Analytics Manager is fed data from both Server Configuration Manager and EMC VoyenceControl, the company’s premier network change and configuration management software.

"EMC’s market leadership is driven by our ability to link highly diverse and disparate pieces of the IT infrastructure, enabling customers to manage the entire information delivery chain using a single line-of-sight," said Chris Gahagan, EMC’s Senior Vice President, Resource Management Software. "The addition of server configuration management, compliance and analytics immediately takes this strategy to the next level – positioning EMC as the company to beat in automated IT management."

Core to Server Configuration Manager and Configuration Analytics Manager are the following features and functionality:

Server Configuration Manager

• Multiplatform server and desktop compliance (Windows desktops, servers, UNIX and Linux servers)
• Pre-built compliance toolkits for common regulatory mandates and industry standards including PCI, SOX, HIPAA, GLBA, FISMA, DISA, ISO 27001
• Virtualization support
• Full change and configuration management
• Remediation
• Patch management
• Add-on modules including SCM for Active Directory and SCM for Virtualization

Configuration Analytics Manager

• Executive dashboards
• Rollup of key performance indicators (KPIs) for compliance and change
• Three separate versions, including: CAM for Networks, CAM for Servers and CAM for both Networks and Servers

Both Server Configuration Manager and Configuration Analytics Manager will be generally available on November 15, 2008.