IBM is enhancing its VMControl software for managing data centers to give enterprise users a single point of control across multiple types of IT systems and virtualization technologies. Combined with IBM’s Tivoli software, VMControl allows for combinations of physical and virtual IBM servers to be managed as a single entity, called “system pooling.”
IBM says this approach optimizes virtualization by helping corporate data centers simplify management functions and better share and prioritize use of critical resources such as CPU, memory and storage. Having centralized control over virtualized environments lets companies manage large amounts of information and processing resources and then parcel them out to applications when and where they’re needed.
And this efficiency also brings with it lower capital, operational and energy costs for businesses. IBM also claims that the new and improved VMControl will help with the deployment of cloud computing applications. To compliment VMControl, there’s a new version of Tivoli Provisioning Manager that is being released that provides enhanced automation of the manual tasks of provisioning and configuring servers, operating systems, middleware, software applications, storage and network devices.
The combination of Tivoli and VMControl allows for speedier deployments, gives users the ability to downsize management tools into an efficient platform, and provides for additional monitoring and management features. IBM’s vice president of technical sales for systems and technology group, David Gelardi, tells us that the upgrade of these software represents the company’s larger strategy of investment on systems software for the enterprise vs. hardware. In fact, IBM’s recent strong earnings reflects this shift in focus.