IBM to Launch "Autonomic" Assault This Week - Page 3

Security and Storage Enhancements

On the security side, Big Blue will announce integration between Tivoli Access Manager and nine third-party tools: Verity K2 Enterprise, nCipher's nForce hardware security module, Blockade's ESConnect, Cash-U's Pecan Entertainment Platform, Sena Systems's PortalPass, Wincom Systems's Platform, Kintana software, and OpenConnect Systems's WebConnect with its Single Sign-On.

IBM is also expected to play up integration between Access Manager and its own Tivoli Identity Manager, Tivoli Privacy Manager, IBM Directory Server, and IBM Directory Integrator. Both directory products are now being re-branded as Tivoli products.

Privacy Manager provides built-in privacy policies for vertical markets such as health and finance, according to Wojtowecz.

In the storage area, IBM will promote new autonomic enhancements to Tivoli SAN Manager, Storage Manager, and Storage Resource Manager (Enterprise Storage Forum's "IBM Plans Major Upgrades to Tivoli Storage Software" offers additional details on the storage-related news from Tivoli).

Room for Improvement?

Analysts, however, do see room for future improvement in the Tivoli toolset. "In terms of overall management, HP's management suite is still broader. The announcements at the upcoming developers show, though, will give Tivoli a big leg up," contends Andy Butler, an analyst at GartnerGroup.

IBM has done more than any other systems vendor to integrate support for business processes into its infrastructure, said Roddy Martin, an analyst at AMR Research, during the recent PharmaIT conference in New York City.

As Martin sees it, though, third-party product lifecycle management (PLM) vendors such as SAP, for instance, are still way out front in terms of encapsulating business processes in their software.

"IBM hasn't yet fulfilled its strategy for autonomic computing. They're on their way, though," states IDC's Mason.

With IBM's announcements this week, Tivoli will be able to give HP and other competitors a stronger run for their money, especially in the groundbreaking area of autonomic computing. Few things in life are perfectly complete, though, including management tools from systems vendors.

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