EMA Research Blog: Navigating IT and Security Horizons

Almost all of today’s business processes are supported and complemented by enterprise IT applications. These applications are often business-critical and therefore tied to strict Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Most enterprises utilize sophisticated monitoring tools to track system health on the application, operating system, hypervisor, hardware, network resources, and storage levels. These health monitoring tools send out alerts to the administrator if any of the warning lights turn yellow or red. When all lights are green, there should be no problem.

Put this picture in your mind’s eye – It’s a beautiful sunny weekday and you’re sitting by a pool catching the sun’s rays and a cool breeze.  Strategically placed within arm’s reach beside you is some kind of fruity drink with a tiny bamboo umbrella in it.  You are working (yep, I said working!).  You punch in the last financial figures into your iPad and check your calendar to see it’s time for the board meeting, which you dial into using your smartphone.  Alright, truth-to-tell, you’re more apt to be using your mobile device while waiting on a line at the bank than sitting by a tropical pool, but the basic point is the same – mobile devices mean freedom for employees.

Yesterday, Oracle announced their intent to purchase Endeca, a vendor of unstructured data management and web commerce solutions.

Many times when discussing the topic of big-data, the focus is on the volume of the data, the structure of the data or the near real-time analysis requirements of the data.  We toss around buzzwords like Hadoop, structured vs unstructured, etc…. However, often times what is missed are the analysis goals of the big-data environment.

It is fantastic to part of the Enterprise Management Associates team and with that comes the opportunity to share insights and opinions via blog on the topics of:

The industry seems to be nearing an inflection point in its attitudes towards cloud computing—as best I can tell from headlines, commentaries and ongoing dialog with IT deployments and vendors.   If I had to put a few simple words around it, the era of “mythic hype” surrounding cloud is nearing its end and diffusing into a much [...]

See Dennis’ recent blog post on the state of BSM Analytics, posted at BSM Digest, here: http://www.bsmdigest.com/bsm-analytics-what-are-they-and-why-should-you-care-part-one

See Dennis’ recent blog post on the state of cloud computing, posted at BSM Digest, here: http://www.bsmdigest.com/clouds-iron-fist

Maybe the 21st Century is the Age of Ecosystems.  I suppose the largest for now is our planet.   Taken abstractly, the term “ecosystem” can apply well beyond natural and manmade interdependencies, to political, religious and business- and organizational-driven ecosystems.  And while the concept is a good one, and in some senses a cause for optimism— [...]

The notion that the CMDB is now entering a “mature” phase
is naïve, and in many respects refuted by the high levels of innovation
attested to here. We are admittedly looking at toddlers learning
to walk, but what a transformation they may bring to the market, and to our
whole view of service management, as they take their first few steps!!