Novell Maps ITIL Processes to Technology With Desktop-to-Data Center Management Blueprint

Novell unveils ITIL and standards based architecture for building integrated management solutions

7 February 2007

Novell today announced its Desktop-to-Data Center Management Blueprint, based on ITIL** services and built on open standards. The management blueprint is the next step in Novell's commitment to offer the industry's most comprehensive cross-platform management solutions. The blueprint maps ITIL processes to required management technologies, allowing Novell and its partners to build integrated management solutions based on open standards. This comprehensive approach covers the management of all the computing resources in a typical organization, including personal devices, telecommunications, desktops, networks, storage, handheld devices and servers. Additionally, the blueprint supports multiple operating systems, hardware platforms, and both physical and virtual environments.

In a heterogeneous IT world, customers want vendors to provide interoperability and deliver complete, integrated systems management solutions. Novell is committed to working with partners and the open source community to provide customers with the comprehensive IT management solutions they need. The new Novell® management blueprint establishes the structural framework that partners can use to build unified systems and process management solutions that leverage Novell's Linux* and ZENworks® expertise.

“Our customers want tools that manage the increasing complexity in their IT environments, using the platforms and systems they already have in place, while also improving the speed and efficiency with which their organization operates,” said, Paul Anderson, president and CEO of Novacoast. “Novell's management blueprint is the framework that Novacoast uses to solve these business problems and help our customers manage their systems efficiently.”

With ITIL services central to how customers manage their enterprise, Novell will lead the market by using existing and emerging standards to help customers connect business processes with technology. The standards used will include Systems Virtualization, Partitioning and Cluster (SVPC) model, Common Information Model (CIM) and Systems Management Architecture for Server Hardware (SMASH). The blueprint will also incorporate Web Services for Management (WS-Management), which is the first specification in support of the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) initiative to expose model-agnostic management resources via a set of Web services protocols. Key features that are mapped out include Service Delivery, Service Support, a Federated Configuration Management Database (FCMDB), Software Asset Management, discovery, security and identity, and audit and compliance.

The power of this architecture is already being seen in Novell's ability to rapidly introduce new solutions for emerging customer management challenges. For example, Novell leveraged the architecture in its Novell ZENworks Orchestrator solution to address the increased interest in virtualization technology and the resulting management needs. The ZENworks Orchestrator is an open standards based technology that provides heterogeneous management across Linux, Windows*, and UNIX* platforms, as well as support for multiple virtualization technologies, including XEN*, Microsoft*, and VMWare*.

Joe Wagner, general manager of systems and resource management at Novell, said, “Novell is working with key ISV and systems integrators to deploy cross-platform, heterogeneous solutions from the desktop to the data center. Key components that automate policies and process are critical to enabling the smooth implementation and operation of a complete systems management solution. This service oriented approach gives our partners the power to align their customer's IT to their business and reduce the costs of managing their environment.”

Customers and partners can download the complimentary Novell white paper “A Blueprint for Better Management from the Desktop to the Data Center”at http://www.novell.com/dca.

About Novell

Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL) delivers infrastructure software for the Open Enterprise. We are a leader in enterprise-wide operating systems based on Linux and open source and the security and systems management services required to operate mixed IT environments. We help our customers minimize cost, complexity and risk, allowing them to focus on innovation and growth. For more information, visit http://www.novell.com .

Novell and ZENworks are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. *Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

**Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a framework that outlines best practice IT service management procedures.

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