In-Depth

IBM Launches Infrastructure Assessment Service

Big Blue says the set of services will help customers simplify their data centers and increase the efficiency of their IT operations

• By Stephen Swoyer
• 10/28/2003

Big Blue’s portfolio of Infrastructure Management Assessment Services is actually part of a larger initiative, dubbed Project Symphony, to deliver hardware, software, and services offerings that improve the efficiency of enterprise data centers by automating IT systems.

Dev Mukherjee, VP of e-business on demand strategy with IBM Global Services, says that the Infrastructure Management Assessment Service is designed to help customers simplify their data center infrastructures by automating many labor-intensive processes. "Customers that manage their own data centers have a huge opportunity to reclaim money spent manually directing the hundreds or thousands of computer systems in their enterprise," he said in a statement. "By designing an IT framework based on industry standards and proven business processes, customers can substantially increase the efficiency and utilization of their existing IT resources.”

Infrastructure Management Assessment Service customers will receive assistance from IBM consultants, who will perform an on-site assessment of a company’s IT operations. The goal, IBM representatives say, is to help customers map out the steps necessary to automate their heterogeneous data centers while improving the overall utilization levels of their servers, storage and other IT assets. IBM consultants will work with customers to develop a customized operating plan for their environment.

The Infrastructure Management Assessment Service portfolio encompasses several areas of data center operations, including systems management, asset management, change management, service management, and security management.

IBM’s Mukherjee likens IMAS to transformative technologies of the past, such as ERP or methodologies such as Six Sigma. "Just as enterprise resource planning and Six Sigma made company manufacturing and supply chains more efficient and flexible, applying more discipline to a corporate data center can bring similar benefits to a company's overall IT operations," he added.