UC4 Automates Hyper-V, vSphere and vCenter
Calling itself "the largest single-focused automation company," UC4 Software introduced rapid automation packages for Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware vSphere and VMware vCenter server designed to automate the deployment and management of applications and business-critical processing in virtual environments by providing a single, holistic view of their applications and processes running across hybrid computing environments.
The UC4 Agent for Hyper-V found in that technology's rapid automation package enables users to "integrate application and operating system processes running in physical and virtual environments into a single process flow, " as well as "dynamically configuring and/or provisioning virtual machines to manage peak loads." The product also "integrates Hyper-V-based virtual environments into existing administrative processes and enforce process dependencies."
The Rapid Automation Package for Hyper-V starts at $36,000.
The VMware product enables users to "dynamically provision, deploy or reconfigure virtual machines on demand to manage peak processing loads and meet SLAs. It also "controls VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) and VMware Distributed Power Management (DPM) based on business needs," while "reducing administrative costs by creating and deleting snapshots."
The VMware Rapid Automation Package for VMware Sphere and VMware vCenter server also starts at $36,000.
Like many other virtualization vendors, UC4 Software helps users keep track of their VMs as they are created—reducing sprawl—and can bring more of them online during peak processing periods, as frequently occur during month-end processing periods or in business intelligence environments. The difference is in the degree of automation that is enabled. By optimizing user infrastructures with this automated functionality, IT organizations can save money by reducing processing times and achieving "a faster time to market with information internally."
UC4, which has 1,800 customers around the world, is competing against major players like CA, IBM and BMC, which requires it to work extra hard "educating" the marketplace. According to UC4 Product Marketing Executive Matt Busch, the company is working on a pull-demand model. As he puts it, "We're trying to pull demand out of our customer base."
Posted by Bruce Hoard on 06/24/2010 at 12:48 PM