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Stay up to date on the latest IT and data management information from EMA, including Webinars, Radar Reports, white papers, impact briefs, advisory notes and more! Select your preferred reader by selecting an icon on the right. Current Feed Content:Mastering Multi-Cloud: Network Strategies for Today's Hybrid EnvironmentsPUBLISHED: Wed, 04 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst As organizations rapidly adopt hybrid, multi-cloud environments to support AI initiatives, digital transformation, and shifting business demands, many are struggling to get it right. In fact, new research from Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) reveals that only 25% of enterprises report complete success with their hybrid, multi-cloud networking strategies. So what sets the successful 25% apart? And how can your organization join them? Join Shamus McGillicuddy, Vice President of Research at EMA, and Pradeep Parmar, Director of Product Marketing at Infoblox, for a deep dive into the latest EMA report, "Enterprise Strategies for Hybrid, Multi-Cloud Networks." Based on insights from 354 IT decision makers, this session delivers practical guidance and proven strategies to help you turn your hybrid, multi-cloud network into a powerful business enabler. Securing Tomorrow: The Role of AI in Transforming CybersecurityPUBLISHED: Mon, 23 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionized industries, reshaping the way organizations operate and secure their digital environments. This research from Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) dives into how organizations across industries are leveraging AI, particularly in the realm of cybersecurity, while navigating the challenges of security, ethics, and adoption. Join EMA Research Director, Ken Buckler, for the on-demand webinar where he explores the evolution of human-machine collaboration—from the hoax of the 18th-century Mechanical Turk to the tangible power of today’s generative AI models. He discusses the groundbreaking findings of EMA’s study, which surveyed professionals from 19 industries to uncover current trends, challenges, and successes in AI adoption.
Sponsored by Elastic Security and OpenText. Join us to discover how AI is transforming organizations while ensuring ethical and secure implementations!
2025 EMA Research CalendarPUBLISHED: Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst See what research EMA has planned in 2025. Topics cover information security, risk and compliance management, intelligent automation, intelligent hybrid multi-cloud, ServiceOps, network infrastructure and operations, and more! EMA Radar for Privileged Access Management (PAM)PUBLISHED: Fri, 26 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst To assist organizations in identifying privileged access management (PAM) solutions that will most effectively meet their requirements for improving security postures while minimizing management efforts and related costs, EMA conducted a formal evaluation of the leading platforms available on the market.
Modernizing Active Directory: A Prescriptive Guide to Eliminating IT Complexity While Extending Services to Support Non-Microsoft ResourcesPUBLISHED: Mon, 08 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Celebrated programming legend Admiral Grace Hopper famously noted, “The most dangerous phrase in the English language is, ‘We’ve always done it this way.’” Truer words were never spoken then in regard to Microsoft Active Directory (AD), which persists to propagate the myth that AD is the only service that can support access control functionality, especially for custom-tailored applications. In particular, there are misconceptions that AD exclusively supports functionality for group management and access security, and that purchasing Microsoft products is required to maintain enterprise authentication and authorization compatibility. However, administrators should pause when considering the number of additional tools required to integrate with Active Directory to allow proper management of single sign-on (SSO), multi factor authentication (MFA), mobile device management (MDM), and privileged access management (PAM). At the end of the day, the integration looks like a complex jigsaw puzzle built from different puzzle vendors. The pieces fit, but it’s still difficult to manage and doesn’t look like the painted picture you originally imagined. Perhaps it’s time to find a better approach that doesn’t require so many puzzle pieces. Transcending Passwords: The Next Generation of AuthenticationPUBLISHED: Wed, 15 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Emerging requirements for achieving security assurance in the face of accelerating threats, enhancing workforce productivity, and improving user satisfaction with IT services are driving businesses to advance access policies beyond relying on traditional passwords as the principal form of authentication. To help organizations make informed decisions on the types of authenticators to adopt, EMA conducted primary research involving surveys of end users and business IT professionals to gauge the effectiveness of adopted solutions. IBM Streamlines Identity Management with the Introduction of an Identity FabricPUBLISHED: Tue, 24 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst On October 24, 2023, IBM announced a series of platform enhancements and integrations to IBM’s identity management solution portfolio, establishing an Identity Fabric that consolidates enterprise identity and access management (IAM), privileged access management (PAM), consumer identity and access management (CIAM), identity governance and administration (IGA), and identity threat detection and response (ITDR) to be supported from a single, integrated, cloud-hosted solution.
PUBLISHED: Thu, 05 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst These slides based on the on-demand webinar featuring EMA Research Director Steve Brasen identify the most effective and efficient identity management solutions that will specifically address the needs of SMEs. Download these slides to earn more about:
EMA Radar for Privileged Access Management (PAM)PUBLISHED: Thu, 24 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst The EMA Radar Report delivers an in-depth analysis of industry-leading vendors and vendor products, including their overall market position in comparison with other vendors. This information is laid out in an easy-to decipher, detailed Radar Chart, making it simple to see how vendors measure up in the market, as well as against other vendors. The EMA Radar Report also provides a detailed discussion of methodology and criteria, a high-level market segment overview, and a comprehensive analyst write-up on each vendor. PUBLISHED: Mon, 17 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Modern business success and growth are dependent on the effectiveness of identity management technologies. The ability of workforces to rapidly access and utilize IT resources determines an organization’s agility in responding to customer requests, competitive engagements, and changing market conditions. However, this access must be granted responsibly to ensure the business meets requirements for security and regulatory compliance.
PUBLISHED: Thu, 13 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Accelerating requirements for achieving security assurance while boosting workforce productivity is driving many organizations to adopt more effective identity management technologies. Unfortunately, this has challenged many small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which typically have limited IT management resources and budgets, to offer comparable support to their larger competitors. It certainly does not help that most of the popularly adopted identity management platforms are architected and priced specifically to support large enterprises. The Rise of Low-Friction Access: Emerging Requirements and Solutions for Boosting Workforce Productivity and Security AssurancePUBLISHED: Tue, 08 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Driven by accelerating IT security threats, increased requirements to support remote workforces, the introduction of zero trust initiatives, and evolving user expectations on technology performance, organizations are broadly introducing new requirements for identity security. To provide businesses with actionable guidance on identifying the optimal path to streamlining authentication processes, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) conducted primary research with the goal of identifying current requirements, challenges, and adopted solutions in relation to mitigating access friction.
PUBLISHED: Thu, 03 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst This is the summary report for EMA's Radar for Digital Employee Experience Management. PUBLISHED: Thu, 03 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst This is Applixure's vendor profile summary from the EMA Digital Employee Experience Management Radar Report. PUBLISHED: Thu, 03 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst This is Alluvio Aternity's vendor profile summary from the EMA Digital Employee Experience Management Radar Report. PUBLISHED: Thu, 03 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst All modern businesses are dependent on digital technologies to drive workforce productivity to achieve company performance and financial success. The principles of digital transformation and modern management postulate that digital technologies should principally support user-centric requirements and preferences to maximize business productivity. However, traditional IT management tools are not designed to fully gauge and respond to user experiences issues. Digital experience management (DEX) solutions emerged in recent years to directly address this service delivery gap. Related solutions collect comprehensive contextual information on user interactions with digital technologies, analyze the data to quantify user experiences, and provide support for remediating any deficiencies. This Enterprise Management Associates® (EMA™) Radar Report identifies the 12 leading DEX solution providers—including 1E, Applixure, Catchpoint, Cisco, ControlUp, Datadog, Dynatrace, Lakeside, Martello, Nexthink, Qualtrics, Alluvio Aternity, and VMware—and empirically compares and grades their offered solutions against a broad range of measurements to determine overall product strengths and cost-efficiencies.
Evolving Requirements for Digital Experience Management (DEX)PUBLISHED: Wed, 03 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Over the past few years, businesses have reassessed embracing user-centric approaches to IT. In particular, the “modern management theory” postulates that job satisfaction predicates workforce productivity, rather than financial compensation. Applying this principle to the present day, use of IT requires digital technology to serve the workers, rather than the other way around.
Effective Solutions for Digital Experience Management (DEX) JulyPUBLISHED: Wed, 03 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Traditional IT management practices are primarily business-centric. That is, they prioritize meeting business and IT efficiency requirements over that of user experiences. As such, traditional IT management toolsets natively include few features specifically targeted at improving employee satisfaction and productivity. To achieve modern management goals, IT solutions must address both business and user experience requirements simultaneously.
Beyond Theory: Orchestrating Unified Identity SecurityPUBLISHED: Wed, 06 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Modern businesses must deliver IT services to achieve organizational goals, enable workforce productivity, and drive profits. Unfortunately, the accessibility of digital resources also establishes significant vulnerabilities. Today, virtually all users—and all bots—have been granted some level of privileged access. Even mundane business apps, if compromised, can enable attackers to access the most sensitive business data.
Responsible CIAM: Architecting High Security and Flexibility in Consumer EngagementsPUBLISHED: Thu, 19 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst For any modern business, the most essential outcomes derive from online interactions with consumer audiences. Web traffic and other online digital engagements are now the primary method organizations rely on for direct retail sales, account management, and to deliver ad-based services. Additionally, online resources have introduced whole new revenue streams with their ability to collect consumer information for resale on open markets. Regardless of an organization’s unique business model, consumer digital engagements are instrumental to achieving profitability and meeting organizational goals.
Balancing the Scale Between Profitable Relationships and SecurityPUBLISHED: Tue, 30 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst EMA primary research identifies secure methods for reducing consumer identity and access management (CIAM) administration friction
Balancing the Scale Between Profitable Relationships and SecurityPUBLISHED: Fri, 12 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Most modern businesses are dependent on consumer digital engagements to drive profitability and achieve organizational goals. Online resources—including web-based retail stores, ad-based entertainment, and consumer accounts—are the cornerstone of commercial service delivery. Unfortunately, public-facing IT services are supremely vulnerable to attack, and particular efforts must be made to protect consumer data and interactions to meet requirements for security and compliance.
Responsible Password Protection: Securing Credentials Hosted in Active DirectoryPUBLISHED: Sun, 07 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst There is a certain irony in the fact that passwords are commonly relied on as the first line of defense for protecting enterprise applications, data, and IT services, yet they are also broadly recognized as the weakest link in enterprise security. Concerns about the effectiveness of password-based controls are not unwarranted. PUBLISHED: Tue, 19 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst In the world of IT management, it is easy to forget that the primary focus should be on supporting people, not machines. This should be obvious, but the core precepts of endpoint management principally address ensuring system performance, rather than focusing on meeting end-user preferences. Client lifecycle management best practices target the standardization of endpoint and application configuration to simplify administration efforts. However, there is no universal configuration option that is equally optimal for all users. For instance, an environment that is too complex for one user may be too simplistic for another.
Identifying Effective Digital Employee Experience (DEX) Management Solutions: A Quantitative AnalysisPUBLISHED: Tue, 12 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst In recognition of the importance of improving workforce productivity, businesses have increasingly introduced solutions specifically designed to improve employee digital experiences. However, evolving requirements and challenges have obfuscated the types of technologies, solutions, and best practices that will most effectively drive increased end-user efficiencies and performance in the usage of digital resources. To help provide guidance on which approaches organizations should adopt, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) conducted primary, survey-based research into the requirements, challenges, solutions, and outcomes employed in real business conditions today.
Consumer Identity and Access Management (CIAM): Responsible Solutions for Creating Positive Consumer ExperiencesPUBLISHED: Wed, 07 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Modern business success, by any measure, is reliant on the positive experiences of consumers during digital engagements. Consumer identity and access management (CIAM) processes and solutions govern the execution of processes for enabling consumer access to digital resources while ensuring security and compliance requirements are responsibly met. To help identify optimal solutions and best practices in support of CIAM objectives, EMA conducted survey-based research of organizations actively employing CIAM solutions. Among respondents, 65% reported their organization was impacted by a significant security breach in the last year, including malware infections, unauthorized uses of IT services, and the exposure of consumer data and credentials.
Advancing Privileged Access Management (PAM) to Address Modern Business Requirements: SummaryPUBLISHED: Tue, 08 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst This is the report summary for "Advancing Privileged Access Management (PAM) to Address Modern Business Requirements." Advancing Privileged Access Management (PAM) to Address Modern Business RequirementsPUBLISHED: Tue, 08 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Security breaches of privileged accounts can be catastrophic to any business by allowing bad actors unfettered access to the company’s most sensitive data and IT systems. Related vulnerabilities have accelerated in recent years due to increased IT infrastructure complexities and broad distribution of business-critical services. To assist organizations with identifying the most effective methods for managing privileged access, EMA conducted primary, survey-based research into the real-world requirements, challenges, and management techniques employed for securing privileged access.
PUBLISHED: Fri, 06 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst End-user digital experience is at the cornerstone of every modern-day business. Every measure of business success (including profitability, performance, and productivity) is dependent on the effectiveness of the supporting workforce, and modern worker proficiency is derived from the efficient use of information technology (IT) tools and services. This EMA product comparison report provides a side-by-side comparison of leading DEM solutions, including 1E Tachyon, Aternity Digital Experience Management, Lakeside Software's SysTrack, and Nexthink Enterprise.
Streamlining IT Operations: Bridging the Gap Between IT Effectiveness and Cost-EfficienciesPUBLISHED: Mon, 14 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst The backbone of any modern-day enterprise is the successful delivery of IT services that empower workforces and drive business performance. Unfortunately, the implementation, maintenance, and end-user support requirements for delivering IT services that are essential for driving business performance typically come with a hefty price tag. Significant changes in business requirements and service delivery models introduced over the last decade or so have only served to accelerate demands on IT budgets.
A Strategic Guide for Transitioning to Adaptive Access ManagementPUBLISHED: Wed, 19 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst There can be no doubt that enterprise access requirements have radically changed in recent years. Workforces are more mobile than ever before, and the COVID-19 pandemic has irrevocably accelerated remote work requirements and related challenges. The IT resources users access are no longer sequestered on secure business networks, but instead are distributed across a wide variety of public and private cloud and web services. Enterprise requirements to move to cloud infrastructures have broken down traditional security approaches. Additionally, digital transformation is driving increased user expectations for higher fidelity and lower-friction experiences.
EMA Evaluation Guide to Privileged Access Management (PAM)PUBLISHED: Fri, 14 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Enterprise IT and security management are broadly dependent on the availability of privileged accounts that enable administrators and authorized users to install, configure, monitor, secure, and repair the IT systems that are the lifeblood of business operations. Anyone able to attain privileged access is granted unfettered access to view and change the company’s most sensitive and valuable systems, data, and applications, and governing this access is relegated to the practice of privileged access management (PAM). According to EMA primary research, 79% of organizations consider PAM to be very important or critical to their business operations, and the discipline is an essential component of any enterprise security strategy.
EMA Top 3 Report: Ten Priorities for Enabling Secure Access to Enterprise IT ServicesPUBLISHED: Tue, 07 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Enterprise productivity, profitability, and success in meeting business objectives are dependent on the ability of workforces to access and utilize the applications, data, email, and other IT services necessary to complete job tasks. However, pressures to give an increasingly mobile workforce access to IT services distributed across a variety of public and private hosting environments have significantly challenged organizations. This Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) decision guide is intended to provide actionable advice on the best practices and solutions organizations should adopt to empower end-user productivity while minimizing risk profiles when enabling secure access to business IT resources.
Actionable Guidance for Succeeding in Enterprise-Class Privileged Access ManagementPUBLISHED: Thu, 28 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst According to EMA primary research, 79% of organizations consider privileged access management (PAM) to be very important or critical to their business operations. However, 76% of organizations experience significant privileged access policy violations each year, exposing the most sensitive business information and IT resources to extreme risks of exposure. To assist organizations with identifying and deploying strategic improvements to PAM practices and solutions, EMA has developed an evaluation guide for achieving optimal PAM implementations. Join Steve Brasen, EMA Research Director, and Paul Lanzi, COO and Co-Founder of Remediant, to discover key elements of this guide. Attendees will attain actionable guidance on how to advance their PAM implementations regardless of where they are currently in their security management journey. Trusting Passwords: Best Practices for Threat-Proofing CredentialsPUBLISHED: Fri, 15 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst According to EMA primary research, passwords continue to be employed as the dominant method of authentication for accessing business IT resources, including applications, data, and other IT services. Building on a legacy that dates back to the early days of computing, passwords are ubiquitous across all types and sizes of organizations and are a key instrument for empowering workforces with responsible access to the information and resources they need to drive business success.
Beyond Passwords: Advancing Identity Management with Device AuthenticationPUBLISHED: Tue, 28 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Since the early days of computing, the use of passwords has been relied on as the primary method for authenticating users. Even today, 80% of businesses continue to trust passwords as a principle component of their enterprise security strategy. Broad evidence, however, suggests that overreliance on passwords is the weakest link in security effectiveness.
Contextual Awareness: Advancing Identity and Access Management to the Next Level of Security EffectivenessPUBLISHED: Tue, 03 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst The primary focus of modern identity and access management (IAM) practices is to responsibly enable user authorizations for utilizing enterprise applications, data, and IT services in a manner that meets enterprise security requirements while minimizing impacts on end-user productivity. However, carefully maintaining a balance between high-security and low-friction access controls requires solutions that conditionally apply authentication processes that are appropriate to each access event.
Contextual Awareness: Advancing Identity and Access Management to the Next Level of Security Effectiveness SummaryPUBLISHED: Tue, 03 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Summary for the Contextual Awareness research report. Protecting the Modern Enterprise with Identity GovernancePUBLISHED: Tue, 18 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst The greatest inhibitor to achieving enterprise security assurance is the sheer complexity of modern IT ecosystems. IT administrators and security professionals must protect a wide variety of business IT assets (including applications, data, email, and other IT services) distributed across diverse cloud and on-premises network topologies. Depending on business requirements, these resources may be utilized by employees, contract workers, outsources, partners, managed service providers, or even customers, and each user may access the resources from a number of different types of devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops. Preventing security violations across all of these disparate IT resources and service-hosting environments is a daunting prospect, even for organizations with the most advanced automation and monitoring tools.
Ten Priorities for Endpoint Management in 2019: An EMA Top 3 Report and Decision GuidePUBLISHED: Wed, 06 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Business performance and success are dependent on the ability of a company’s workforce to effectively and efficiently perform job tasks. Workforce agility and productivity accelerate when the endpoint devices they rely on—including desktops, laptops, smartphones, and tablets—operate reliably and intuitively. Endpoint management practices and solutions are designed to ensure user devices operate optimally and provide users with seamless access to enterprise applications, data, and IT servers from any device at any location at any time. This Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) decision guide is intended to provide actional advice on the best practices and solutions organizations should adopt for addressing today’s most pressing challenges to enabling effective endpoint management.
Achieving Effective Identity and Access GovernancePUBLISHED: Wed, 30 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst To address increased requirements for security assurance and IT service availability, identity and access governance practices and solutions are being broadly introduced to facilitate the orchestration of policy-based access controls and compliance attainment. To help bring clarity on which specific practices and tools should be adopted in support of identity and access governance, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) conducted primary, survey-based research identifying key use cases and outcomes for related practices.
Responsible Password Protection: Securing Credentials Hosted in Active DirectoryPUBLISHED: Thu, 26 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst There is a certain irony in the fact that passwords are commonly relied on as the first line of defense for protecting enterprise applications, data, and IT services, yet they are also broadly recognized as the weakest link in enterprise security. Concerns about the effectiveness of password-based controls are not unwarranted. Hackers are increasingly inventing new and nefarious methods of breaking passwords, such as by employing brute-force attacks, keystroke logging, and phishing schemes. Once acquired, passwords are sold or distributed across the dark web to bad actors who are prepared to use them to perform criminal and vandalistic activities.
Enhancing Security with Passwordless AuthenticationPUBLISHED: Mon, 19 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Today’s enterprise IT services continue to be broadly reliant on antiquated, ineffective, and unsecure password-based authentication controls. High-friction authentication processes reduce workforce productivity, create negative user experiences, damage business reputations, and are time-consuming and costly to manage. While passwordless approaches to authentication are increasingly recognized as powerful alternatives to traditional passwords, many organizations are unsure of the level of security passwordless solutions offer, what types of solutions will optimally address their organization’s needs, and how to responsibly transition to low-friction identity management solutions. To assist organizations with making actional decisions, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) conducted primary, survey-based research with the goal of identifying the requirements, challenges, value, and optimal approaches to introducing passwordless authentication solutions.
Accelerating the Journey to Passwordless AuthenticationPUBLISHED: Mon, 29 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst This white paper leverages results from the EMA research report "Passwordless Authentication—Bridging the Gap Between Low-Friction and High-Security Identity Management” to show the clear indications of methods for simplifying the onboarding of passwordless authentication technologies.
Passwordless Authentication: Bridging the Gap Between High-Security and Low-Friction Identity ManagementPUBLISHED: Mon, 01 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Today’s enterprise IT services continue to be broadly reliant on antiquated, ineffective, and unsecure password-based authentication controls. High-friction authentication processes reduce workforce productivity, create negative user experiences, damage business reputations, and are time-consuming and costly to manage. While passwordless approaches to authentication (such as biometrics and security keys) are increasingly recognized as powerful alternatives to traditional passwords, many organizations are unsure of the level of security passwordless solutions offer, which types of solutions will optimally address their organization’s needs, and how to responsibly transition to low-friction identity management solutions. Revealed in this research report are results from an in-depth, survey-based evaluation of the requirements, challenges, value, and optimal approaches to adopting passwordless authentication solutions.
Report Summary: Passwordless Authentication: Bridging the Gap Between High-Security and Low-Friction Identity ManagementPUBLISHED: Mon, 01 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Summary for the 2019 Passwordless Authentication report. Ten Priorities for Identity Management in 2019: An EMA Top 3 Report and Decision GuidePUBLISHED: Fri, 29 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Identity management is the first line of defense for protecting sensitive business resources from inappropriate use, distribution, loss, and damage. IT operations and security managers are continuously pressured to achieve high levels of security without introducing complex authentication processes that may reduce workforce productivity and/or user experiences. This Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) decision guide provides actionable guidance on the best practices and solutions organizations should adopt for addressing today’s most pressing challenges to enabling effective identity management. The ten most critical business priorities for adopting identity management solutions are reported and, for each, EMA recommends the top three leading platforms that most effectively address related requirements.
Adaptiva Enables Continuous Security Compliance with Evolve VMPUBLISHED: Fri, 08 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Endpoint and security management solution provider Adaptiva has officially announced the introduction of its new endpoint compliance and vulnerability management platform, Evolve VM. Built on Adaptiva’s high-speed peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture, Evolve VM is designed to automatically detect and remediate vulnerabilities in largescale support stacks. In this impact brief, EMA identifies the key features and value offered by this new solution and places it in context with the broader endpoint detection and response (EDR) market. Report Summary - EMA Radar for Unified Endpoint Management: Q1 2019PUBLISHED: Mon, 21 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst This is a summary document of the EMA Radar for Unified Endpoint Management: Q1 2019. Full Report Abstract Today's workforces rely on a variety of disparate endpoint devices (including desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and Internet of Things [IOT] devices) to perform essential business tasks. This has challenged organizations to meet increasing requirements for service-level agreements, security assurance, and operational support. Maintaining separate management environments for each endpoint architecture is no longer sustainable. Unified endpoint management solutions consolidate administration processes for all endpoint hardware and operating system configurations onto a single automation and reporting interface. This Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) RADAR report identifies the nine leading unified endpoint management platforms--including solutions offered by Citrix, IBM, Ivanti, Matrix42, Microsoft, Quest Software, Sophos, and VMware--and empirically compares and grades them against a broad range of measurements to determine overall product strengths and cost efficiencies. EMA Radar for Unified Endpoint Management: Q1 2019PUBLISHED: Mon, 14 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Today's workforces rely on a variety of disparate endpoint devices (including desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and Internet of Things [IOT] devices) to perform essential business tasks. This has challenged organizations to meet increasing requirements for service-level agreements, security assurance, and operational support. Maintaining separate management environments for each endpoint architecture is no longer sustainable. Unified endpoint management solutions consolidate administration processes for all endpoint hardware and operating system configurations onto a single automation and reporting interface. This Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) RADAR report identifies the nine leading unified endpoint management platforms--including solutions offered by Citrix, IBM, Ivanti, Matrix42, Microsoft, Quest Software, Sophos, and VMware--and empirically compares and grades them against a broad range of measurements to determine overall product strengths and cost efficiencies. Responsible User Empowerment: Enabling Privileged Access Management (PAM)PUBLISHED: Wed, 05 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Today's tech-oriented workforces are more knowledgeable and capable with utilizing enterprise IT devices, applications, and services than ever before, and many have more than a basic understanding of the inner workings of business critical system. However, a lack of constraints on the types of tasks they are permitted to perform often leads to unqualified users having an inflated sense of expertise and a belief that they can manage systems as well (if not better) than the trained administrators responsible for supporting them. To help educate organizations on best practices and optimal approaches to privileged access management (PAM), EMA has conducted primary, survey-based research to identify the current level of risk organizations are assuming in allowing open access to IT resources that require elevated controls and protections. Presented in this report are the key conclusions achieved from the research results as well as actionable guidance on how to responsibly enable privileged access.
Report Summary - Responsible User Empowerment: Enabling Privileged Access Management (PAM)PUBLISHED: Wed, 05 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Summary document of the EMA research report, "Responsible User Empowerment: Enabling Privileged Access Management (PAM)." Inventory and Discovery: How to Take Charge of What Is Out TherePUBLISHED: Wed, 08 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst With a plethora of inventory and discovery tools, IT organizations often sink beneath an unreconciled data universe. Join us for this insightful webinar, where Dennis Drogseth, VP of research at leading IT analyst firm Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), will draw from extensive EMA research and consulting experience to explain how IT organizations can improve their effectiveness in ‘discovering the truth’ about their environments. Will Degener, Senior Product Manager at Scalable Software, Ltd., will share a number of real-world examples highlighting how customers have significantly improved IT asset data quality using Scalable’s unified approach. EMA Top 3 Report: Ten Priorities for Enabling Secure Access to Enterprise IT ServicesPUBLISHED: Tue, 24 Jul 2018 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Enterprise productivity, profitability, and success in meeting business objectives are dependent on the ability of workforces to access and utilize the applications, data, email, and other IT services necessary to complete job tasks. However, increased pressure to enable workforce mobility and the distribution of IT services across a variety of public and private hosting environments have challenged organizations to grant secure and reliable access to those resources. This Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) decision guide is intended to provide actionable advice on the best practices and solutions organizations should adopt to empower end-user productivity while minimizing risk profiles. Slides: Identifying Effective Endpoint Detection and Response Platforms (EDRP)PUBLISHED: Wed, 13 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst As organizations struggle to mature their security and IT service profiles across expanding numbers of endpoints, they are increasingly turning to the proactive management capabilities of endpoint detection and responses platforms. To provide organizations with a clear example of how to identify the most effective EDRP solutions, leading IT analyst firm Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) has conducted independent and objective research on the features and capabilities of two of the leading solution suites in this market: Tanium Core and 1E Tachyon. Citrix Advances User Experiences to a Whole New Level with the Release of Workspace AppPUBLISHED: Fri, 08 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Delivering on its promise to empower enterprise workforces with innovative solutions, Citrix announced at its annual Synergy conference the release of a number of new and evolved technologies designed to improve user experiences, choice, and security. Key technologies introduced include Citrix Analytics, Citrix Access Control, and a variety of integration and portability solutions that simplify and secure access to cloud-hosted, service management, and productivity enhancement solutions. Tying together the new and existing Citrix end-user computing solutions is Citrix Workspace App, which provides a unified end-user experience for accessing downloadable, virtual, web, and software as a service (SaaS) applications from any device at any location. In this impact brief, EMA evaluates the newly introduced technologies and how their impact on the endpoint management and digital workspace marketplaces. Adopting Effective Solutions in Endpoint Detection and Response: An Objective Comparison of Tanium Core and 1E TachyonPUBLISHED: Thu, 07 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Rapidly evolving requirements for security, compliance, and service management of enterprise endpoint devices is necessitating faster and more detailed visibility into end user computing conditions. Endpoint detection and response platforms (EDRP) have risen in popularity for their ability to rapidly respond to these business requirements across particularly large support stacks. In order to help organizations identify the optimal endpoint detection and response solutions necessary to achieve their unique organizational requirements, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) conducted an objective and independent evaluation of two of the leading EDRP currently available: Tanium Core and 1E Tachyon.
Report Summary - EMA Radar for Storage IntelligencePUBLISHED: Wed, 09 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst In order to help organizations determine the most effective storage intelligence solution to meet their unique business requirements, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) has identified the nine leading platforms and performed a side-by-side comparison to determine their product strengths and cost efficiencies. Evaluated solutions include:
Slides: Proactive Endpoint Security through Threat PreventionPUBLISHED: Tue, 06 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst These slides--based on the webinar hosted by EMA and Ericom Software, provide an informative look at the best practices for enabling secure browsing and access to business resources necessary to prevent today’s most dynamic cyber threats. Pragmatic Identity and Access ManagementPUBLISHED: Thu, 01 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Today's business success is dependent on the secure availability of software resources, including applications, data, and other services. Identity and access management (IAM) processes and solutions are the first line of defense for ensuring secure access to enterprise software services. An increasing reliance on applications distributed across internal, external, public, and private hosting environments are creating new challenges for enabling IAM solutions that are cost-effective, easy to manage, and do not diminish end-user productivity. To help definitively identify evolving requirements, challenges, and optimal solutions, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) conducted primary, survey-based research identifying real-world businesses and experiences with various IAM approaches. Revealed in this report are the key findings from that research as well as conclusions on how to implement a pragmatic IAM solution.
Report Summary - Pragmatic Identity and Access ManagementPUBLISHED: Tue, 27 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst This is a summary of the EMA research report, "Pragmatic Identity and Access Management." Full Report Abstract Today's business success is dependent on the secure availability of software resources, including applications, data, and other services. Identity and access management (IAM) processes and solutions are the first line of defense for ensuring secure access to enterprise software services. An increasing reliance on applications distributed across internal, external, public, and private hosting environments are creating new challenges for enabling IAM solutions that are cost-effective, easy to manage, and do not diminish end-user productivity. To help definitively identify evolving requirements, challenges, and optimal solutions, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) conducted primary, survey-based research identifying real-world businesses and experiences with various IAM approaches. Revealed in this report are the key findings from that research as well as conclusions on how to implement a pragmatic IAM solution.
Orchestrating Digital Workspaces: The Emerging Digital Transformation of End User ComputingPUBLISHED: Mon, 12 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Emerging requirements to support workforce mobility and distributed software ecosystems are dramatically increasing the complexity of supporting end user computing. Digital workspaces offer the most effective approach to ensuring the reliable and secure delivery of applications, data, and other services to any device at any location while minimizing management efforts and related costs. This white paper is the first in a series providing survey-based research results identifying evolving end user management requirements and optimal solutions for transitioning to a digital workspace environment. Orchestrating Digital Workspaces: The Evolving State of Endpoint ManagementPUBLISHED: Mon, 12 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Emerging requirements to support workforce mobility and distributed software ecosystems are dramatically increasing the complexity of supporting end user computing. Digital workspaces offer the most effective approach to ensuring the reliable and secure delivery of applications, data, and other services to any device at any location while minimizing management efforts and related costs. This white paper is the second in a series providing survey-based research results identifying evolving end user management requirements and optimal solutions for transitioning to a digital workspace environment. Orchestrating Digital Workspaces: Step-by-Step Guide to Making the Vision a RealityPUBLISHED: Mon, 12 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Emerging requirements to support workforce mobility and distributed software ecosystems are dramatically increasing the complexity of supporting end user computing. Digital workspaces offer the most effective approach to ensuring the reliable and secure delivery of applications, data, and other services to any device at any location while minimizing management efforts and related costs. This white paper is the third in a series providing survey-based research results identifying evolving end user management requirements and optimal solutions for transitioning to a digital workspace environment. Slides: Pragmatic Storage IntelligencePUBLISHED: Thu, 02 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst These slides--based on the webinar featuring Steve Brasen, research director at leading IT analyst firm, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), and Phil Godwin, president at Visual Storage Intelligence (VSI)--outline the most advantageous solutions for improving storage efficiencies. EMA Radar for Storage Intelligence: Q4 2017PUBLISHED: Sun, 17 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst No information technology (IT) infrastructure resource is as essential to ensuring business performance and productivity as storage. Processes for data access, distribution, and protection are directly impacted by the configurations of storage arrays, SAN fabrics, NAS systems, backup and disaster recover (BDR) devices, and hosted cloud storage solutions. Recognizing the importance of these resources but lacking visibility into their functional performance, most organizations overprovision storage solutions in order to ensure business requirements are continuously met. Storage Intelligence solutions provide key insights into the entire storage ecosystem, enabling informed decision making on improving service performance and reliability, the proactive identification of potential problems and identifying opportunities for reducing the cost of operations. In order to help organizations determine the most effective storage intelligence solution to meet their unique business requirements, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) has identified the nine leading platforms and performed a side-by-side comparison to determine their product strengths and cost efficiencies. Evaluated solutions include:
Report Summary - EMA Radar for Storage Intelligence: Q4 2017PUBLISHED: Sun, 17 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst This is a summary of the EMA Radar for Storage Intelligence: Q4 2017. Full Report Abstract No information technology (IT) infrastructure resource is as essential to ensuring business performance and productivity as storage. Processes for data access, distribution, and protection are directly impacted by the configurations of storage arrays, SAN fabrics, NAS systems, backup and disaster recover (BDR) devices, and hosted cloud storage solutions. Recognizing the importance of these resources but lacking visibility into their functional performance, most organizations overprovision storage solutions in order to ensure business requirements are continuously met. Storage Intelligence solutions provide key insights into the entire storage ecosystem, enabling informed decision making on improving service performance and reliability, the proactive identification of potential problems and identifying opportunities for reducing the cost of operations. In order to help organizations determine the most effective storage intelligence solution to meet their unique business requirements, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) has identified the nine leading platforms and performed a side-by-side comparison to determine their product strengths and cost efficiencies. Evaluated solutions include:
A Strategic Guide to Application-Centric Infrastructure Performance ManagementPUBLISHED: Fri, 07 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Modern IT ecosystems have become incredibly complex.IT organizations need tools capable of helping them evolve from silo-focused to application-focused management techniques designed to transform groups of diverse technology silo experts into cross-functional application support teams. In this white paper, EMA identifies the characteristics of modern applications that make both application- and infrastructure-focused management capabilities essential elements of modern management tools portfolios. It also defines new tooling capabilities focusing on Application-centric Infrastructure Performance Management (App-centric IPM), a new approach to monitoring and managing the impact of infrastructure performance on application performance. Additionally highlighted is the role of App-centric IPM as complementary to traditional Application Performance Management (APM) toolsets in order to enable holistic visibility and comprehensive support for infrastructure elements that will dramatically improve application performance and availability. EMA Webinars adPUBLISHED: Thu, 29 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Aryaka SmartACCESS Simplifies Remote Access Infrastructure and Provides Faster, Secure Delivery of Applications to Remote and Mobile WorkforcesPUBLISHED: Wed, 21 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Aryaka has formally announced the general availability of SmartACCESS, the fist clientless SD-WAN solution for remote access. SmartACCESS is designed to accelerate on-premises and cloud/SaaS application performance for the remote and mobile workforce and simplify remote user access to business IT services while strengthening security. In this Impact Brief, EMA evaluates the key functionality of the new platform as well as how its introduction affects the network and mobile management marketplaces. Empowering a Productive Workforce with Secure Digital WorkspacesPUBLISHED: Mon, 17 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst IT managers are increasingly challenged to enable productive workforces due to evolving requirements for security, mobility, multi-device support, and distributed software ecosystems. By focusing on the delivery of digital workspaces, rather than end-to-end device management, organizations reduce management efforts, enable granular control over access to business resources, and empower end users with the flexibility to customize their digital experiences in the way best suited for their unique work styles. In the white paper, EMA identifies the key elements of a digital workspace environment, and provides guidance on how to empower a more productive IT-dependent workforce. Prescriptive Guide to Achieving Extreme Data DurabilityPUBLISHED: Fri, 14 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Today's businesses increasingly seek to retain larger data sets for longer-term retention periods to support active archive requirements, meet regulatory compliance commitments, and consolidate large record sets to perform analytical reporting and historical trending. Ensuring the integrity of dat in long-term storage is the primary focus of solutions architected to support data durability. In the white paper, EMA identifies the most effective practices and solutions for achieving extreme, multi-site data durability to support eminent high-availability and IT resilience. VMware Expands Multi-Device Support with Updates to Workspace ONEPUBLISHED: Wed, 22 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst VMware has formally announced updates to its Workspace ONE suite of endpoint management solutions and the AirWatch mobile management platform. The new features directly target existing and emerging requirements for unified endpoint management, application and access management, and improving user experiences. In this Impact Brief, EMA evaluates VMware's new endpoint and mobile management functionality and provides context on how the solution fits into the broader digital workspace market. HDS Brings Content Intelligence to its Object Storage PortfolioPUBLISHED: Mon, 27 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) recently announced the general availability of Hitachi Content Intelligence, a new addition to its object storage-based Hitachi Content Platform. Content Intelligence is an extensible data quality and analytics framework that supports services such as enterprise search, data migration, data portability, etc. for organizational data stored on filesystems, in cloud repositories, or on products products within the Content Portfolio.In this impact brief, EMA identifies the value of this new approach and how it will impact the broader storage market space. Slides: Responsible Rationalization: Reducing the Cost of IT OperationsPUBLISHED: Fri, 27 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst View these slides, based on the on-demand webinar, to discover how rationalization practices can substantially reduce the cost of maintaining IT infrastructures while accelerating their effectiveness and reliability. Report Summary - Orchestrating Digital WorkspacesPUBLISHED: Mon, 16 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst This is the summary of the EMA research report, "Orchestrating Digital Workspaces." Full Report Abstract Expanding requirements for workforce mobility, heterogeneous device support, and distributed software ecosystems have challenged organizations to provide secure and reliable IT resources using traditional endpoint management processes. To empower more technology-reliant workforces, organizations must transition distributed desktop and mobile devices user environments to cloud-hosted software aggregation services. These "digital workspaces" enable standardized business work environments that are fully customizable, easy to maintain, secure, and accessible from any device at any location at any time. While many IT managers recognize the value of a digital workspace approach to endpoint management, most are unaware of the critical solutions and implementation tasks that must be performed to enable such a platform. Leveraging results from survey based primary research along with industry established best practices , EMA has developed a five-step maturity model providing prescriptive guidance on the most pragmatic method for transitioning from a traditional distributed desktop environment to user-focused digital workspaces.
EMA Research Report: Orchestrating Digital WorkspacesPUBLISHED: Tue, 10 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Expanding requirements for workforce mobility, heterogeneous device support, and distributed software ecosystems have challenged organizations to provide secure and reliable IT resources using traditional endpoint management processes. To empower more technology-reliant workforces, organizations must transition distributed desktop and mobile devices user environments to cloud-hosted software aggregation services. These “digital workspaces” enable standardized business work environments that are fully customizable, easy to maintain, secure, and accessible from any device at any location at any time. While many IT managers recognize the value of a digital workspace approach to endpoint management, most are unaware of the critical solutions and implementation tasks that must be performed to enable such a platform. Leveraging results from survey based primary research along with industry established best practices , EMA has developed a five-step maturity model providing prescriptive guidance on the most pragmatic method for transitioning from a traditional distributed desktop environment to user-focused digital workspaces. Managing Apple Devices in a Windows WorldPUBLISHED: Mon, 03 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst While Windows PCs continue to comprise the core of business end user computing solutions, Apple macOS computers and iOS mobile devices are increasingly being adopted to satisfy evolving workforce requirements and preferences. This accelerating environment heterogeneity has exponentially amplified administration challenges for device provisioning, maintenance, and problem management. In this white paper, EMA identifies the unique requirements essential to supporting Apple device users as well as the best practices and solutions that should be adopted to support macOS and iOS endpoints side-by-side with Windows-based devices. EMA Radar for Mobile Security Management (MSM)PUBLISHED: Wed, 27 Jul 2016 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Mobile workers are demanding unprecedented access to enterprise applications, data, and IT services from their smartphones and tablets. Enabling increased accessibility to these resources, however, can place a business at risk if proper security protocols are not enforced. This requires advanced capabilities in identity management, threat detection, and data loss prevention. Mobile security management (MSM) provides the processes and solutions necessary for security business resources at their source, when in transit, and on remote devices. This Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) RADAR report identifies the twelve leading MSM platforms and empirically compares and grades them against a broad range of measurements to determine overall product strengths and cost efficiencies. Report Summary - EMA Radar for Mobile Security Management (MSM)PUBLISHED: Wed, 27 Jul 2016 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst This is the summary of the "EMA Radar for Mobile Security Management (MSM)". Full Report Abstract Mobile workers are demanding unprecedented access to enterprise applications, data, and IT services from their smartphones and tablets. Enabling increased accessibility to these resources, however, can place a business at risk if proper security protocols are not enforced. This requires advanced capabilities in identity management, threat detection, and data loss prevention. Mobile security management (MSM) provides the processes and solutions necessary for security business resources at their source, when in transit, and on remote devices. This Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) RADAR report identifies the twelve leading MSM platforms and empirically compares and grades them against a broad range of measurements to determine overall product strengths and cost efficiencies.
Citrix and Microsoft: Expanding on a Longtime PartnershipPUBLISHED: Wed, 15 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst At its annual industry conference, Synergy, end user computing solution provider, Citrix, jointly announced a new and strengthened alliance with Microsoft to streamline the delivery of software services and accelerate enterprise security, cloud, and mobile strategies. In this Impact Brief, EMA evaluates the announced and planned integrations and indicates how the expanded aliance will impact existing customers and the endpoint management markeplace as a whole. Report Summary - Effective BYOD Management: Empowering a Mobile WorkforcePUBLISHED: Thu, 05 May 2016 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst This is a summary of the EMA research report, "Effective BYOD Management: Empowering a Mobile Workforce." Enterprise professionals are increasingly employing personally-owned smartphones, tablets, and laptops to perform business tasks. Even business-owned devices are commonly employed by users to perform personal tasks. Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) processes are increasingly being adopted to isolate, provision, secure, and support business applications, data, and services without limiting any employee's personal use of the devices. Common technologies employed to accomplish this include containerization, app wrapping, virtualization, and the deployment of dedicated secure applications. This EMA primary research report identifies emerging BYOD requirements and correlates the value of enterprise-class BYOD solutions to help organizations determine the best approaches for empowering end users, reducing costs, and meeting enterprise security requirements.
Effective BYOD Management: Empowering a Mobile WorkforcePUBLISHED: Wed, 04 May 2016 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Enterprise professionals are increasingly employing personally-owned smartphones, tablets, and laptops to perform business tasks. Even business-owned devices are commonly employed by users to perform personal tasks. Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) processes are increasingly being adopted to isolate, provision, secure, and support business applications, data, and services without limiting any employee's personal use of the devices. Common technologies employed to accomplish this include containerization, app wrapping, virtualization, and the deployment of dedicated secure applications. This EMA primary research report identifies emerging BYOD requirements and correlates the value of enterprise-class BYOD solutions to help organizations determine the best approaches for empowering end users, reducing costs, and meeting enterprise security requirements. 2016 EMA Vendors to Watch: Systems ManagementPUBLISHED: Wed, 09 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst EMA "Vendors to Watch" are companies that deliver unique customer value by solving problems that had previously gone unaddressed or provide value in innovative ways. The designation rewards vendors that dare to go off the beaten path and have defined their own market niches. This document contains the 2016 EMA Vendors to Watch in the Systems Management field including: Smith Micro
Sophos Enhances BYOD Security with Release of SMC 6.0PUBLISHED: Tue, 09 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst In February 2016, network and endpoint security solution provider, Sophos, announced the general availability of Sophos Mobile Control (SMC) 6.0. Key enhancements in the latest edition of the vendor’s mobile management platform include the addition of Sophos Secure Email, Corporate Browser, and Secure Workspace, along with improved data protection capabilities. This EMA Impact Brief provides details on the new release and identifies what impact it will have on the enterprise mobile management (EMM) market. EMA Radar for Mobile Device Management (MDM): Q1 2016PUBLISHED: Mon, 28 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Productivity with an increasingly mobile workforce is dependent on the reliability and performance of portable devices -- including smartphones and tablets -- to access and run business applications while still meeting business requirements for security and compliance. Mobile device management (MDM) provides the endpoint-focused processes and solutions for accelerating user productivity and device reliability. This Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) RADAR report identifies the sixteen leading MDM platforms and empirically compares and grades them against a broad range of measurements to determine overall product strengths and cost efficiencies. Report Summary - EMA Radar for Mobile Device Management (MDM): Q1 2016PUBLISHED: Mon, 28 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst This is a summary of the EMA Radar for Mobile Device Management (MDM): Q1 2016. Full Report Abstract Productivity with an increasingly mobile workforce is dependent on the reliability and performance of portable devices -- including smartphones and tablets -- to access and run business applications while still meeting business requirements for security and compliance. Mobile device management (MDM) provides the endpoint-focused processes and solutions for accelerating user productivity and device reliability. This Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) RADAR report identifies the sixteen leading MDM platforms and empirically compares and grades them against a broad range of measurements to determine overall product strengths and cost efficiencies.
Overcoming the Top 5 Challenges to Windows 10 AdoptionPUBLISHED: Mon, 02 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst The introduction of Windows 10 promises a wealth of advantages for enhancing user experiences. Most notably, it unifies the operating environment across mobile and PC endpoints. However, organizations faced with performing mass migrations to the new platforms face a number of significant challenges. Revealed in this EMA white paper are the top 5 challenges to the enterprise adoption of Windows 10 and the prescriptive identification of solutions that will ensure simplified, reliable, and cost-effective migration processes. EMA Vendor to Watch: IndependenceITPUBLISHED: Mon, 14 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst EMA has identified IndependenceIT as a key Vendor to Watch. The vendor's cloud-hosted Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) platform has differentiated itself with unique features targeted at simplifying and enhancing adoption by service providers and ISVs. Revealed in this report are the key value propositions that led EMA to recognize IndependenceIT as a Vendor to Watch. 2015 EMA Vendors to Watch: Systems ManagementPUBLISHED: Wed, 22 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst EMA "Vendors to Watch" are companies that deliver unique customer value by solving problems that had previously gone unaddressed or provide value in innovative ways. The designation rewards vendors that dare to go off the beaten path and have defined their own market niches. This document contains the 2015 EMA Vendors to Watch in the Systems Management field including: IndependenceIT SIOS Technology
Desktop Virtualization: Emerging Requirements and Optimal ConfigurationsPUBLISHED: Fri, 10 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst The adoption of desktop virtualization technologies (including VDI, client-hosted, stateless, and application virtualization) has doubled in the past four years, with the largest increase occurring over the past two years. To understand what is behind this trend and to identify the impacts of rapidly evolving technologies (such as workforce mobility and cloud computing) Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) conducted primary, survey-based research across a broad range of industry verticals and horizontals. Included in this research report are key findings from the survey results, including: adoption and usage trends; the impact of enterprise mobility; deployment and administration support trends; server architectures and efficiency technology adoptions; critical barriers to success; optimal management practices and solutions; and overall outcomes achieved from desktop virtualization adoption. Go beyond the market hype and find out the real-world experiences organizations are having with desktop virtualization technologies.
Report Summary - Desktop Virtualization: Emerging Requirements and Optimal ConfigurationsPUBLISHED: Thu, 09 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst This is a summary of the EMA research report, "Desktop Virtualization: Emerging Requirements and Optimal Configurations." Full Report Abstract The adoption of desktop virtualization technologies (including VDI, client-hosted, stateless, and application virtualization) has doubled in the past four years, with the largest increase occurring over the past two years. To understand what is behind this trend and to identify the impacts of rapidly evolving technologies (such as workforce mobility and cloud computing) Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) conducted primary, survey-based research across a broad range of industry verticals and horizontals. Included in this research report are key findings from the survey results, including: adoption and usage trends; the impact of enterprise mobility; deployment and administration support trends; server architectures and efficiency technology adoptions; critical barriers to success; optimal management practices and solutions; and overall outcomes achieved from desktop virtualization adoption. Go beyond the market hype and find out the real-world experiences organizations are having with desktop virtualization technologies.
Best Practices: Maximizing Efficiency Through Service AutomationPUBLISHED: Fri, 24 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Survival in today's dynamic marketplaces is dependent on the prompt and reliable delivery of IT services. The demands from both customers and employees for more simplified access to IT services are driving organizations to become more agile in how the services are delivered and to ensure they meet rapidly increasing requirements for security, compliance, and user convenience. Making matters worse, IT organizations are consistently pressured to reduce operational costs while meeting these increased demands. In this white paper, EMA identifies key best practices for delivery IT services through the effective adoption of automation. Effective Change Management: Maximizing IT Reliability Through Service AutomationPUBLISHED: Fri, 24 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Survival in today's dynamic marketplaces is dependent on the prompt and reliable delivery of IT services. The demands from both customers and employees for more simplified access to IT services are driving organizations to become more agile in how the services are delivered and to ensure they meet rapidly increasing requirements for security, compliance, and user convenience. Making matters worse, IT organizations are consistently pressured to reduce operational costs while meeting these increased demands. In this white paper, EMA identifies key best practices for delivery IT services through the effective adoption of automation. Empower Your Mobile Workforce: Adopting Service Automation to Achieve Unified Endpoint ManagementPUBLISHED: Mon, 20 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Empowering a mobile workforce is essential in any modern enterprise to meet business goals and remain competitive in the marketplace. The core goal of mobility is to enable users to access business resources -- including applications, data and other services (such as email, messaging and databases) -- from any device at any location at any time.In the white paper, EMA discusses the changing face of Enterprise Mobility Management and provides guidance on optimal methods for transitioning IT operations to support a mobile workforce.
Best Practices: Maximizing Efficiency Through Service AutomationPUBLISHED: Tue, 10 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Survival in today's dynamic marketplaces is dependent on the prompt and reliable delivery of IT services. The demands from both customers and employees for more simplified access to IT services are driving organizations to become more agile in how the services are delivered and to ensure they meet rapidly increasing requirements for security, compliance, and user convenience. Making matters worse, IT organizations are consistently pressured to reduce operational costs while meeting these increased demands. In this white paper, EMA identifies key best practices for delivery IT services through the effective adoption of automation. Introducing HEAT Software: Merging Management Solutions from FrontRange and LumensionPUBLISHED: Fri, 20 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Service and unified endpoint management solution provider, FrontRange, and security management vendor, Lumension, jointly announced the companies will merge to form HEAT Software. In this impact brief, EMA identifies the impact to systems, security, and enterprise mobility management markets as well as how this will affect current customers and the long term prospects for HEAT Software. Citrix Streamlines Mobile Management with Release of XenMobile 10PUBLISHED: Fri, 20 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst In February, 2015, mobile workspace solution provider, Citrix, announced general availability of XenMobile 10, the latest edition of its enterprise mobile management solution suite. Included with the XenMobile 10 release are enhancements and new features that merge Mobile Device Management and (MDM) and Mobile Application Management (MAM) capabilities. In this impact brief, EMA evaluates the new solution capabilities and provides insights into how this latest release impacts the mobile management market. Best Practices in Lifecycle Management: Comparing Suites from Dell, LANDESK, Microsoft, and SymantecPUBLISHED: Tue, 17 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Given the complexity of todayís dynamic IT infrastructures and the broad range of management disciplines necessary to support them, choosing a lifecycle management solution can be a difficult and bewildering project. To assist in the evaluation of automated lifecycle management platforms, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) has conducted a side-by-side functional and financial comparison of solution suites from four of the leading vendors in this market space: Dell, LANDesk, Microsoft, and Symantec. Key best practices in lifecycle management are explained and used as a framework for identifying critical points of comparison and a detailed financial evaluation goes beyond just license costs to help determine total cost of ownership of each platform. This EMA analysis includes a comparison of over 50 functional capabilities across seven key areas ñ Asset and Discovery Management; Provisioning; Security and Patch Management; Third-Party Patch Deployment; Configuration Compliance and Remediation; Process Automation and Service Desk; and Interfaces and Reporting - and breaks-out management capailities across a variety of endpoint platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, UNIX, and Chromebooks. Consolidating Enterprise Mobility Management with Version 9 of the Kaseya Product Portfolio: Integrating MDM, BYOD, and MAMPUBLISHED: Wed, 11 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Introduced with version 9 of the Kaseya product portfolio is a new Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) platform designed to unify key capabilities in Mobile Device Management (MDM), Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) Management, and Mobile Application Management (MAM). In this impact brief, EMA reviews the features included in this new platform and identifies its essential value proposition as it relates to other solution in the mobile management marketplace. Ensuring IT Efficiencies Through Enterprise Process AutomationPUBLISHED: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Enterprise success in today’s dynamic marketplaces is contingent on the agility of a business to rapidly perform tasks that address key needs and requirements. To maintain a competitive edge, However, to achieve this, organizations must adopt business-focused IT processes that consist of a variety of disparate and complex tasks that can be extremely difficult to orchestrate. In this white paper, EMA identifies how to effectively manage complex task by enabling an integrated approach to process automation and job scheduling.
JAMF Software Brings Apple Device Management to SMBs with the Introduction of the Bushel Management SolutionPUBLISHED: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst On January 14, 2015, JAMF Software announced the general availability of Bushel, a new Apple device management solution for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Bushel is a cloud-hosted, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform with key capabilities that include asset and inventory management, security management, and application delivery. In this impact brief, EMA evaluates the capabilities of the new platform and determine which types of uses would be most likely to take advantage of this cost-effective solution. Enterprise Lifecycle Management in a Changing World: Best Practices for Resolving Emerging Challenges in Unified Endpoint ManagementPUBLISHED: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Information technology advances and evolving enterprise requirements are changing the businesses utilization of computing resources. Lifecycle management processes needs to evolve as well to meet rising adoption of business-critical IT requirements for workforce mobility, virtualization, reliable software delivery, and increased infrastructure complexity. In order to face these emerging challenges, organizations must be armed with processes and automation solutions that will deliver the agility and extensibility to maintain performance and reliability without sacrificing cost-effectiveness in IT investments. In this white paper, EMA indentifies the specific challenges associated with emerging technologies, reveals best practices for minimizing their impat on productivity, and indicates how automated management platforms, such as the FrontRange HEAT Desktop and Server Management (HEAT DSM), can help simplify administrative tasks and allow organization to regain control over evolving IT requirements. Dell Consolidates Endpoint Management with the Introduction of the Dell Software SuitePUBLISHED: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Dell recently announce a new software solution suite that bundles key technologies for securing, managing, and enabling PC, server, and mobile devices. The Dell Software Suite is being offered for free for the first year of use to provide an easy and cost-effective path to on-board the solution. In this impact brief, EMA takes a close look at the key components of the Dell’s Software Suite and evaluates the advantages of the bundled solution and how it will affect the endpoint management competitive landscape. Slides: Best Practices for Leveraging Automation & Analytics in IT OperationsPUBLISHED: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Leading IT industry analyst firm, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), recently performed primary, survey-based research identifying the most impactful IT operations management challenges along with the most successful approaches to resolving them. This slides - based on the webinar featuring EMA managing research director, Steve Brasen, and VMware director of product marketing, Martin Klaus - cover the results of this extensive evaluation. View these slides to gain key insights into the experiences and lessons learned by IT operations professionals across a broad range of industry verticals and horizontals. Topics to be discussed include:
Overcoming Automation Fatigue: Best Practices for Accelerating Incident ResolutionPUBLISHED: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst While organizations often adopt automation to try to improve incident resolution times, automation alone can actually create more problems than it resolves while addressing only a limited number of incidents. To compensate, administrators often over-automate processes, making them difficult to manage and eminently error-prone because they are too complicated to modify or diagnose. Described in this EMA white paper are key best practices for accelerating incident resolution while minimizing administrative efforts by empowering support agents with modular process workflows. EMA Vendor to Watch: ASG Software SolutionsPUBLISHED: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Responding to the accelerating need for enabling simplified user access to enterprise IT services from any device, at any location, at any time, ASG Software Solutions has introduced Hybrid Dynamic Workspaces with the latest release of its enterprise cloud solution suite, CloudFactory 8.1. EMA has determined that ASG's approach to empowering business professionals with customizable work environments to create a consistent user experience across devices warrants recognition of the vendor as an EMA Vendor to Watch. Pragmatic Capacity Management: Getting the Most Out of Your Data Center InvestmentsPUBLISHED: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Traditional capacity management practices rely on the intentional overprovisioning of IT infrastructure servers and other resources to ensure performance is maintained even during unexpectedly high peak loads. However, this approach rarely delivers on providing the expected performance and reliability effects -- and almost never justifies the excessive costs involved. Revealed in this white paper are key practices for enabling a business-focused approach to capacity management that maximizes both effectiveness and efficiency in IT investments. EMA Research Report: Optimizing IT Operations with Automation and AnalyticsPUBLISHED: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst While IT operations managers broadly recognize that automation is the key to improving IT performance while reducing administrative efforts, it is often unclear how to strategically employ automation to meet SLA requirements and business goals. To gauge the state and effectiveness of enterprise IT’s ability to meet expanding requirements, EMA conducted primary, survey-based research evaluating real world conditions and use cases. Included in this EMA Research Report are the key findings from the study, including detailed results identifying critical requirements for enabling proactive IT management, the effectiveness of adopting automation, and how organizations are dealing with siloed organizational structures. EMA Research Report: Enabling Unified Endpoint and Service Management for a Mobile WorkforcePUBLISHED: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst The need for enterprises to support a mobile workforce is increasingly impacting how enterprises deliver, secure, and manage devices, applications, data, and services. In this research report, EMA evaluates survey responses from more than 200 IT professionals to identify key enterprise challenges and requirements for supporting a mobile workforce.In particular, the research gauges the level of awareness and need for a Unified Endpoint Management approach that enables centralized management across all endpoint device types -- desktop, laptops, tablets and smartphones. Desktop Automation: Effective Desktop Operations & Management with Cloud OrchestrationPUBLISHED: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst As businesses strive to meet the evolving requirements for more flexible, reliable, and dynamic end-user computing services that empower end-user productivity, they look to adopt more dynamic processes for monitoring and managing desktop services. Rising to meet the challenges are Desktop Automation solutions that enable centralized management and holistic visibility into the provisioning and use of workspaces, applications, and other IT services. This EMA white paper identifies how organizations can make informed decisions on how to optimally configure, deploy, and service desktop resources by leveraging the powerful features of a Desktop Automation implementation. VMware Broadens the Desktop Virtualization Market Space with the Release of Horizon DaaSPUBLISHED: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst VMware has formally announced the launch of its Horizon Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) platform -- a cloud-based desktop virtualization hosted environment running on the VMware vCloud Hybrid Service. In this Impact Brief, EMA evaluates how this new offering disrupts the DaaS market and provides increased opportunities for VMware to expand its overall customer base in virtual desktop adoption. EMA Vendor to Watch: MocanaPUBLISHED: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst For its innovation and leadership in enabling secure application deployment, Mocana has been recognized as a 2014 EMA Vendor to Watch. Included in this product evaluation are key insights identifying how Mocana is delivering unique customer value. EMA Vendor to Watch: Power AssurePUBLISHED: Thu, 20 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst For it's innovation and leadership in enabling software-defined power, Power Assure has been recognized as an EMA Vendor to Watch. Included in this product evaluation are key insights identifying how Power assure is delivering unique customer value. Dell Raises the Bar on Deployment Speed and Efficiency with the 3.6 Release of the KACE K2000 Deployment AppliancePUBLISHED: Thu, 06 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst The v3.6 release of the Dell KACE K2000 Deployment Appliance introduces new functionality -- including a task engine and multicasting. In this Impact Brief, EMA evaluates the importance of these new capabilities and places the Dell KACE platform in context with the broader IT lifecycle management market space. 2014 EMA Vendors to Watch: Systems ManagementPUBLISHED: Tue, 04 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst EMA "Vendors to Watch" are companies that deliver unique customer value by solving problems that had previously gone unaddressed or provide value in innovative ways. The designation rewards vendors that dare to go off the beaten path and have defined their own market niches. This document contains the 2014 EMA Vendors to Watch in the Systems Management field including Power Assure. Slides: The Evolving Desktop - How to Deliver Windows Desktops and Applications from the CloudPUBLISHED: Tue, 17 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Did you know cloud-based desktop virtualization can be employed to rapidly provision Windows desktops and application to any end user device, at any location, while reducing the cost of delivering hosted applications by 50%? These slides - based on a Webinar featuring EMA Research Director, Steve Brasen, and Desktone Senior Director for desktops as a service (DaaS), David Grant- explain learn how you can leverage cloud technology and DaaS to transform your workspace, as well as teach you:
Achieving Unified IT Visibility with Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM)PUBLISHED: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst As enterprises are constantly pressured to provide IT services that are highly-available, eminently extensible, and cost-effective, organizations have had to rapidly adopt new technologies and services to meet expanding requirements. However, the optimization of existing resources and the rapid delivery of new services is often challenging to IT managers due to the intricate complexities inherent in any dynamic data center. In this white paper, EMA reveals how a unified approach to data center infrastructure management (DCIM) delivers more efficient IT services, improving both the reliability and the cost-effectiveness of IT infrastructures. Pragmatic Endpoint Management: Empowering an SMB Workforce in the Age of MobilityPUBLISHED: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst An increasing number of enterprise requirements necessary to enable a productive and mobile workforce are challenging small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with limited administrative staff and operational budgets to reliably support endpoints and deliver business applications, data and other services. In this white paper, EMA provides actionable guidance on which processes and technologies to adopt that overburdened AMB IT support into delivering more efficient and effective endpoint management while reducing support efforts and operational costs. Empowering Your Mobile Workforce: Change is in Your HandsPUBLISHED: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst The adoption of trending technologies, such as workforce mobility, are essential to ensuring any modern enterprise remains competitive, profitable, agile and successful in meeting organizational goals. Process and technology changes, however, are rarely adopted without resistance from both users and administrators and can be disruptive to business productivity. IT managers are often caught between the need to meet emerging enterprise requirements and having to address the substantial challenges of implementing change. In this edition of EMA's series of "Change is in Your Hands" white papers, actionable guidance is provided on the best approaches to empowering a mobile workforce while reducing administrative efforts. Embracing Trends and Technologies: Change is in Your HandsPUBLISHED: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Few processes are as impactful to business operations as the introduction of technology changes. This is particularly true of trending technologies supporting IT service optimization, cloud computing, and workforce mobility, which collectively represent a radical departure from traditional methods of enterprise computing. In this white paper, EMA offers actionable guidance on best practices to for introducing change and on the adoption of unified management solutions that facilitate simplified, reliable, and cost-effective implementations. Supporting Workforce Mobility: Best Practices in Enterprise Mobility ManagementPUBLISHED: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Business success in meeting today's dynamic organizational requirements is dependent on its ability to empower a mobile workforce. Business IT resources -- including application, data, and services -- must be securely and reliably accessible by every device employed to perform business tasks, regardless of whether it is owned by the business or by an employee, and all endpoints (including desktop PCs and mobile devices) must be provisioned and supported without violating enterprise policies. This EMA white paper identifies key management processes necessary for enabling workforce mobility, including asset lifecycle management, resource provisioning, security and compliance, and problem management. Slides: Unified Endpoint Management in the Mobile AgePUBLISHED: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Today’s dynamic workforce requires access to a broad range of applications and services delivered from a variety of sources and accessible on a number of different devices and operating systems. Traditional Windows-device-centric methods of endpoint management are no longer sustainable as users demand immediate access to business IT resources from any device at any location. To ensure employees remain productive, enterprises must adopt consolidated methods for provisioning, maintaining, and supporting all endpoint devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones. These slides - based on the Webinar featuring Steve Brasen, EMA Managing Research Director, and Kimber Spradlin, IBM Product Marketing for Endpoint Manager - cover the strategic management processes necessary to empower a mobile workforce with the agility to adapt to rapidly evolving business requirements. The slides also cover:
uptime software Simplifies IT Service Delivery with the Release of up.time 7.2PUBLISHED: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst In August, 2013, IT monitoring and management solution provider, uptime software released the latest version of its flagship server, application, and network performance monitoring platform, up.time 7.2. The new edition continues a series of recent enhancements the vendor has introduced to the platform designed to help organizations achieve IT service delivery goals. Included in the new release are features for enhanced interactive and customizable dashboards, improved SLA monitoring, simplified reporting for problem identification, and performance improvement tracking. In this Impact Brief, EMA evaluates the impact of this new edition as well as the development trend of uptime software and places them in context in the performance management market place. Effective IT Operations with Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM)PUBLISHED: Fri, 09 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Faced with rapidly expanding requirements for increased reliability and cost-effectiveness in IT services, today's Enterprise IT Operations are challenged with increasingly complex data center infrastructures. Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) delivers the key capabilities necessary to transition to more efficient and effective IT service and systems management by delivering automated monitoring and management support that enhance service process at every stage in the maturity of an IT infrastructure. This EMA white paper provides the prescriptive model for transitional to dynamic and holistic IT operations management of data center resources with the adoption of processes including asset management, problem management, access and control, visual modeling, capacity planning, root cause analysis, and workload automation. Citrix Sets the Bar High in Enterprise Mobile ManagementPUBLISHED: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst IDuring its annual 2013 Synergy user conference, Citrix announced a series of new and enhanced technologies for enabling and securing workforce mobility that propel the vendor into a leadership position in delivering enterprise mobile management solutions. In the impact brief, EMA reviews the new Citrix solutions in mobile device management, mobile application delivery, data sharing, and network management and provides insights into how these platforms fit into and affect the enterprise mobile market. Unified Endpoint Management: The Convergence of Enterprise Requirements for Supporting PCs and Mobile DevicesPUBLISHED: Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst The broad adoption of mobile devices in the performance of business tasks has fundamentally altered the IT requirements for ensuring employee productivity. Users now demand access to critical business application at any time, at any location, and on any device. Unified endpoint management solutions deliver common IT services to multiple devices securely and with minimal administrative effort. To help identify the IT services that are most advantaged by a unified management process, EMA performed primary, survey-based research involving more than 500 business professionals that actively use smartphones, tablets, laptops, and/or desktop PCs. In this EMA research report, key findings on each device platform are compared, including current and future device adoption, device application uses, practices in data loss prevention, security and compliance, desktop virtualization, and the breadth of enterprise support provided. Report Summary - Unified Endpoint Management: The Convergence of Enterprise Requirements for Supporting PCs and Mobile DevicesPUBLISHED: Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst This is a Summary of the EMA Research Report, Unified Endpoint Management: The Convergence of Enterprise Requirements for Supporting PCs and Mobile Devices. Full Report Abstract The broad adoption of mobile devices in the performance of business tasks has fundamentally altered the IT requirements for ensuring employee productivity. Users now demand access to critical business application at any time, at any location, and on any device. Unified endpoint management solutions deliver common IT services to multiple devices securely and with minimal administrative effort. To help identify the IT services that are most advantaged by a unified management process, EMA performed primary, survey-based research involving more than 500 business professionals that actively use smartphones, tablets, laptops, and/or desktop PCs. In this EMA research report, key findings on each device platform are compared, including current and future device adoption, device application uses, practices in data loss prevention, security and compliance, desktop virtualization, and the breadth of enterprise support provided. Quantifying Data Center Efficiency: Achieving Value with Data Center Infrastructure ManagementPUBLISHED: Thu, 18 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) solutions, such as those offered by FieldView Solutions, facilitate substantial opportunities for improving IT reliability, performance and cost effectiveness. By evaluating the environment improvement results of actual FieldView customers, EMA has gauged the level of efficiency improvements that can be expected with the introduction of DCIM processes. In the white paper, EMA reveals the detailed results of the research and identifies expected saving in energy consumption, carbon generation, and the total cost of maintaining data center facilities and operations. LANDesk Acquires Shavlik Management Solutions from VMwarePUBLISHED: Tue, 09 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst LANDesk has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire IT management technologies from VMware. Acquired by VMware in 2011, the Shavlik Netchk Protect solution set was rebranded VMware vCenter Protect and provides centralized patch management and asset inventory for Window-based virtual and physical endpoints. LANDesk intends to return the platform to its original Shavlik brand and offer it as a cost-effective solution that will further expand LANDesk's market presence with SMBs and larger enterprises seeking user-oriented management solutions. In this EMA Impact Brief, EMA evaluates how this acquisition will effect existing customers and LANDesk future development of endpoint lifecycle management solutions. CommScope Expands into Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) with the Acquisition of iTRACSPUBLISHED: Thu, 04 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Global telecommunication and network infrastructure provider, CommScope, has announced it has acquired substantially all of the assets of leading data center infrastructure management (DCIM) solution provider, iTRACS Corporation. In the impact brief, EMA identifies how the acquisition will affect the product sets of both vendors and the opportunities for future development in DCIM with the assistance of open standards. Dell ShowKACEs new K3000 Mobile Management AppliancePUBLISHED: Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst In a simultaneous announcement at the 2012 Dell KACE User Konference and Dell World 2012, leading systems management solution provider, Dell KACE announced the limited release of its new K3000 Mobile Management Appliance. Supporting both iOS and Android mobile devices, the K3000 can be deployed as a physical or virtual appliance and provides a centralized solution for security, policy management, and application management. In this Impact Brief, EMA evaluates the features of the new platform and positions the solution in the rapidly evolving mobile device management market space. EMA Radar for Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM): Q4 2012PUBLISHED: Tue, 11 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Although only fully defined in the past few years, Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) has been broadly accepted as the primary method for achieving effective and efficient IT implementations, operations, and management processes. The ability to leverage analytics and detailed modeling capabilities to provide real time visibility across complex IT ecosystems enables organization to optimize a variety of critical infrastructure support elements, including energy efficiency, heat distribution, space management, network connectivity and system performance. Of the hundreds of solutions on the market claiming these capabilities, only a handful have been identified by EMA to deliver full DCIM support. In this EMA Radar Report, seven of these leading DCIM solution sets have been reviewed and empirically compared across a broad range of measurements that identify product strengths and overall cost efficiency. Participating vendors include Cormant, Emerson Network Power, FieldView Solutions, iTRACS, Modius, Nlyte Software, and Raritan. Report Summary - EMA Radar for Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM): Q4 2012PUBLISHED: Tue, 11 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst This a summary of the EMA Radar for Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM): Q4 2012. Symantec Delivers on Promise of Simplified Enterprise MobilityPUBLISHED: Wed, 24 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst On October 9, 2012, Symantec announced several new offerings, expanding the vendor's support for enterprise mobile devices, such as iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Included in the announcement is a new program for enabling enterprise ready trusted mobile applications, the App Center Ready Program, and the Mobility Solution Specialization for Channel Partners Program, which provides a dedicated partner channel for offering Symantec's enterprise mobility products and services. In addition, Symantec has unified its mobile management solutions into a single suite that is being offered with a user-based pricing model. In this Impact brief, EMA reviews Symantec's new solutions, product enhancements, and programs supporting enterprise mobility and evaluates where the vendor fits in the mobile management marketplace. Enterprise Class Ubuntu Management with Canonical LandscapePUBLISHED: Thu, 13 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Traditional management practices for enterprise support of Ubuntu systems principally rely on scripts and manual processes for provisioning, patching, security compliance, and maintenance. Increasing complexity in both business requirements and infrastructure configuration has challenged organizations to meet business goals with these antiquated processes. Custom scripts, for instance, may need to be updated every time a change is made to the environment or system failures and performance degradation could occur for which the root cause is difficult to detect. This EMA white paper explores how enterprise-class automation, such as Canonical's Landscape, works in concert with industry established best practices to facilitate significant performance enhancements, operational cost reductions, and an improved work experience for Ubuntu administrators.
Dell KACE Systems Deployment Appliance vs. Symantec Ghost - Choosing an Enterprise Deployment SolutionPUBLISHED: Thu, 30 Aug 2012 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Imaging point products, such as Symantec Ghost, have dominated the deployment market space for the past decade. Challenging that popularity are new integrated deployment solutions, such as the Dell KACE K2000 Systems Deployment Appliance, that promote provisioning features beyond traditional imaging functionality. In this report, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) compares and contrasts the core architecture, functionality and costs associated with Ghost and the Dell KACE K2000 Appliance to help quantify value achieved in the two deployment solutions. Transitioning to a Mobile Workforce: Key Support Consideration for Enterprise Mobile DevicesPUBLISHED: Fri, 20 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Enterprise reliance on mobile devices to drive workforce productivity and business profitability is not only increasing, it is accelerating. To remain competitive and achieve organizational goals, enterprises must adopt mobile solutions that extend business services to a mobile workforce and ensure their devices are reliable, effective, and secure. IT organizations, however, are challenged to add support for a number of new mobile platforms and meet emerging mobile requirements without substantially increasing operational costs and complexity. This EMA white paper provides actionable information on how to transition to an effective mobile support platform and includes key considerations for establishing a strategic mobile management plan. Dell Delivers on Promise of End-to-End IT Management with Acquisition of QuestPUBLISHED: Mon, 09 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst IT hardware and software vendor, Dell, has reported it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Quest Software, a leading provider of IT management software solutions. This announcement follows a string of recent acquisitions by Dell in IT management and represents a critical step in delivering on the vendor's promise to enable end-to-end IT management solutions. In this impact brief, EMA evaluates how the acquisition of Quest's substantial software portfolio will propell Dell into a leadership position in the marketplace. Included are detailed reviews of a number of new and essential IT management capabilities Dell will be inheriting, including on the topics of application performance monitoring, database management, identity and access management, and systems management.
Got Ops? BlueStripe Introduces Ops - Friendly APM Enhancements with FactFinder v6PUBLISHED: Wed, 23 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst On May 15, 2012, BlueStripe Software (www.bluestripe.com/) announced the release of FactFinder v6. This release adds significant new Operations-facing APM capabilities to BlueStripeís flagship FactFinder solution. Newly-announced features include monitoring for Java Virtual Machines (JVMs), IBM WebSphere, and Oracle WebLogic, as well as Business Intelligence-driven application analytics and a new Problem Management Database (PMDB). The enhancements also improve diagnostics for assessing the impact of DNS on transaction performance. These enhancements build on the related FactFinder Correlatron announcement made in February of this year. Correlatron introduced a "smarter" correlation model that operates only on the application dependency chain versus the entire technology ecosystem. Taken together, the two announcements have added significantly to the BlueStripe value proposition in an impressively short time span.
Dell KACE Empowers the IT Administrator Community with ITNinjaPUBLISHED: Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Leading system Management Appliance vendor, Dell KACE, in conjunction with its parent company, Dell Software Group, jointly announced the expansion of its popular online IT community site, AppDeploy.com. Rebranding the forum site "ITNinja," the service will now support discussions on topics beyond applications deployment, increasing its value to end users and applicability to the user community. In this Impact Brief, Enterprise Management Associates reviews the value of the reintroduced service and identifies the effect the changes will have on the Dell KACE customer base and the existing AppDeploy user community. Novell Broadens Desktop Management Capabilities with Mac Support and Full Disk Encryption in ZENworks 11 SP2PUBLISHED: Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Novell has recently announced the general availability of the vendors premier automated systems management solution, Novell ZENworks 11 Support Pack 2. Included in this latest update of the popular heterogeneous systems management platform is integrated device management support for Mac clients, full disk encryption capabilities, expanded platform support, and performance improvements. Additionally, two new product suites have been added to offer pre-packaged options of the ZENworks solution sets. In this Impact Brief, Enterprise Management Associates takes a detailed look at the release's new capabilities and identifies how this will affect the long-term viabilitiy of the platform. Symantec Unifies Data Protection with the Release of NetBackup 7.5 and Backup Exec 2012PUBLISHED: Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst On February 6, 2012, Symantec announced critical new releases of its flagship backup and disaster recovery solutions, NetBackup 7.5 and Backup Exec 2012, both targeted at ensuring more efficient storage processes while providing assurance of data recoverability. In this impact brief, Enterprise Management Associates reviews both the new features and the new product editions available with Symantecs premier data protection product families. BMC Expands its Presence in the SMB Market Space with the Acquisition of NumaraPUBLISHED: Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst BMC Software has entered into a definitative agreement to acquire Numara Software ñ a move intended to enable the vendor to establish a two-tiered service and systems management product line supporting the needs of both small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and large enterprises. In this impact brief, Enterprise Management Associates evaluates how successful this move will be for the systems and service management vendor and what will be the direct and indirect impacts to the customers and competitors of both vendors product sets. IBM Boldly Enters the Mobile Device Management Marketspace with New Tivoli Endpoint Manager ModulePUBLISHED: Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Expanding the scope of its endpoint management capabilities, IBM has announced the launch of a new Mobile Device Management automation platform supporting a number of smartphone and tablet platforms, including iOS and Android. The solution set greatly simplifies email, application, inventory, and configuration management while ensuring both data and device security. In this impact brief Enterprise Management Associates evaluates the value of the new platform discusses the identifies important integration points with IBM's Tivoli Endpoint Management product line. BMC Expands Mainframe Support with the Acquisition of I/O ConceptsPUBLISHED: Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Reaffirming its commitment to providing support for mainframes, BMC announced the acquisition of mainframe console management solution provider, I/O Concepts. The acquired solution set is being transitioned into BMC's MainView product line and includes functionality for enabling console consolidation, console security, and automation. In this impact brief, Enterprise Management Associates evalutes how this acquisition will affect BMC positioning in the mainframe management market space. Enterprise Mobile Device Management: How Smartphones and Tablets are Changing Workforce IT RequirementsPUBLISHED: Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Today's dynamic workforce is more mobile than ever before. The explosive adoption of smart phones and tablets -- most notably Android, Blackberry, and Apple iOS platforms -- has broadened the effectiveness of professional workers to remotely support business requirements, improving productivity, streamlining communications, and increasing opportunities for revenue generation. As the reliance on mobile technology has grown, however, new challenges in the management of portable devices have also developed requiring unique approaches to device provisioning, maintenance, security and problem resolution. Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) conducted primary research involving extensive independent surveys of both mobile device end users and IT managers responsible for supporting mobile endpoints. Collectively, the two sets of survey data deliver a comprehensive cross-section of enterprise mobile device use and requirements, and EMA's in-depth analysis delivers insightful predictions of the direction and impact of mobile device management processes and solutions. Dell KACE Vendor Profile: EMA Radar for Client Lifecycle Management: Q4 2011PUBLISHED: Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Dell KACE's Vendor Profile from the EMA Radar for Client Lifecycle Management: Q4 2011. Radar Report Abstract Essential to the success of nearly every modern day business are the personal IT resources relied on by their workforce to achieve day-to-day business requirements. How well these systems perform directly impacts employee productivity and, by extension, overall business success. Client Lifecycle Management (CLM) encompasses the processes employed to achieve all desktop and laptop support requirements from initial deployment through final retirement, including asset management, systems deployment, application management, patch management, configuration management, endpoint virtualization, automated power management, and security. To assist enterprises in the identification of value solutions in the CLM market space, EMA has researched the most popular and comprehensive solutions available today. Models and evaluation criteria were developed and ranked separately for two distinct size categories: Small and medium business (SMBs) -- identified as those with less than 10,000 supported endpoints -- and enterprise class businesses with greater than 10,000 supported endpoints. This research provides the definitive ranking of the CLM market space and offers clear, side-by-side comparisons of the leading automation solution suites available today. Evaluated vendors include: Absolute Software, CA Technologies, Dell KACE, FrontRange Solutions, Hitachi Data Systems, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Kaseya, LANDesk, Microsoft, Novell, Numara, and Symantec.
EMA Radar for Client Lifecycle Management: Q4 2011PUBLISHED: Tue, 04 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Essential to the success of nearly every modern day business are the personal IT resources relied on by their workforce to achieve day-to-day business requirements. How well these systems perform directly impacts employee productivity and, by extension, overall business success. Client Lifecycle Management (CLM) encompasses the processes employed to achieve all desktop and laptop support requirements from initial deployment through final retirement, including asset management, systems deployment, application management, patch management, configuration management, endpoint virtualization, automated power management, and security. To assist enterprises in the identification of value solutions in the CLM market space, EMA has researched the most popular and comprehensive solutions available today. Models and evaluation criteria were developed and ranked separately for two distinct size categories: Small and medium business (SMBs) -- identified as those with less than 10,000 supported endpoints -- and enterprise class businesses with greater than 10,000 supported endpoints. This research provides the definitive ranking of the CLM market space and offers clear, side-by-side comparisons of the leading automation solution suites available today. Evaluated vendors include: Absolute Software, CA Technologies, Dell KACE, FrontRange Solutions, Hitachi Data Systems, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Kaseya, LANDesk, Microsoft, Novell, Numara, and Symantec.
Report Summary - EMA Radar for Client Lifecycle Management: Q4 2011PUBLISHED: Tue, 04 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst This is summary document of the EMA Radar for Client Lifecycle Management: Q4 2011. Report Abstract Essential to the success of nearly every modern day business are the personal IT resources relied on by their workforce to achieve day-to-day business requirements. How well these systems perform directly impacts employee productivity and, by extension, overall business success. Client Lifecycle Management (CLM) encompasses the processes employed to achieve all desktop and laptop support requirements from initial deployment through final retirement, including asset management, systems deployment, application management, patch management, configuration management, endpoint virtualization, automated power management, and security. To assist enterprises in the identification of value solutions in the CLM market space, EMA has researched the most popular and comprehensive solutions available today. Models and evaluation criteria were developed and ranked separately for two distinct size categories: Small and medium business (SMBs) -- identified as those with less than 10,000 supported endpoints -- and enterprise class businesses with greater than 10,000 supported endpoints. This research provides the definitive ranking of the CLM market space and offers clear, side-by-side comparisons of the leading automation solution suites available today. Evaluated vendors include: Absolute Software, CA Technologies, Dell KACe, FrontRange Solutions, Hitachi Data Systems, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Kaseya, LANDesk, Microsoft, Novell, Numara, and Symantec.
BMC Fills Gap Between Provisioning and Production with Cloud Operations LaunchPUBLISHED: Tue, 20 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst In August, 2011, BMC Software introduced a packaged suite of capabilities targeted at bridging the gap between provisioning cloud services and monitoring and optimizing cloud services in a production environment. While BMC's solution suite targets primarily internal cloud resources, it offers capabilities to manage hybrid and external cloud deployments as well. These capabilities target a critical industry need and leverage recent product enhancements in performance, user experience and capacity management, and build on BMC's core foundation for creating and provisioning cloud services. The Road to Data Center Infrastructure ManagementPUBLISHED: Tue, 16 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst With an increased reliance on information technology (IT) infrastructure to drive business objectives, organizations are seeking innovative solutions for greater effectiveness in data center implementations while improving cost efficiencies. Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) offers IT service improvements that can greatly improve the value of technology investments to the business through each phase of data center maturity. This EMA white paper provides the foundation processes for transitioning to a proactive and dynamic data center implementation and shows how automated platforms, such as those offered by Emerson Network Power, are essential to IT success. The Responsible Data Center: A Guide to Transitioning to More Effective and Efficient IT InfrastructuresPUBLISHED: Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Traditional data center implementations are challenged to meet rapidly changing business requirements. To remain competitive, enterprises need to transition to information technology (IT) infrastructures that are both effective in their ability to achieve business goals and efficient in their consumption of financial budgets, business resources, and operational staff time. Achieving this fine balance establishes what Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) has designated as The Responsible Data Center. In the white paper, EMA identfies the critical steps necessary for enabling proactive IT services and looks at essential process improvements and automation platforms, such as those included in Emerson Network Power's Avocent solutions suites. uptime Software Delivers Economic Cloud Intelligence with uptimeCloudPUBLISHED: Wed, 22 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst In June 2011, uptime Software announced the beta release of uptimeCloud, a financial analysis and reporting service for simplifying cost and capacity management in cloud implementations. The new SaaS-based service will provide itemized details of cloud utilization costs, predict future costs, and enable informed decision-making for effective cloud capacity management. In this impact brief, EMA analyses the value of this new service and how it will impact cloud adoption and planning. IT Efficiency with Business-Focused Data Center AutomationPUBLISHED: Tue, 21 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Information technology (IT) business requirements have evolved with the need for rapidly available data center services and improved reliability in order to maintain a competitive edge in the market place. Policy-driven automation provides the critical services to transform IT infrastructures into more productive implementations that will reduce operational costs, while enabling greater business agility. In this white paper, EMA identifies key elements to consider in the adoption of automated IT management platforms and examines how solutions offered by BMC, such as the BMC BladeLogic Automation Suite, meet these criteria. NYSE Partners with EMC and VMware to Offer Cloud-Based Financial ServicesPUBLISHED: Fri, 10 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst NYSE Euronext's technology division, NYSE Technologies, announced in June 2011 the release of a financial services-driven community cloud platform. The cloud infrastructure, which has been designed in partnership with technology providers, EMC and VMware, will offer an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) platform specifically developed to meet the security and performance demands of the financial industry. This impact brief offers analysis of the value and ramification of the new cloud service. The Evolving Desktop: Management Solutions for Emerging Endpoint TechnologiesPUBLISHED: Sat, 21 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Businesses are experiencing a renascence in desktop design and utilization. New technologies -- including those for virtualization, workforce mobility, and Cloud services -- are changing the way organizations conceptualize the desktop. As adoption of these transformative technologies increases, however, businesses are also experiencing an increase in environment complexity that translates into more impactful management challenges and increased operational costs. Relief for these difficulties can be found in unified management processes and consolidated automated solutions that work across both physical and virtual environments to simplify administrative practices, reduce costs, establish standardizations, and provide enterprises with the agility necessary to successfully compete in today's demanding markets. In this prescriptive white paper, EMA provides actionable guidance to IT professionals responsible for the planning, deployment, and on-going management of client computing investments. Quest Software Bolsters Virtualization Offerings with the Acquisition of RemoteScanPUBLISHED: Fri, 20 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Quest Software announced that it will be acquiring the assets of remote imaging and software scanning firm, RemoteScan. The peripheral driver support that RemoteScan offers works with all desktop virtualization platforms, including Questís own vWorkspace virtual desktop suite. In this impact brief, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) identifies how this announcement fits in with other recent acquisition by Quest that provide Cloud and virtualization management support. Symantec's Triumphant Return to Systems Management with the Release of Altiris IT Management Suite 7.1PUBLISHED: Tue, 19 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Symantec has formally announced the release of the Altiris IT Management Suite 7.1. New features include a new unified management interface and enhanced support for emerging technologies, such as mobile devices and virtualization. In the impact brief, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) examines the breatdh of enhancements included in the new edition and evaluates how they will position Altiris in the systems management marketplace.
Cisco UCS: A Real-World TCO AnalysisPUBLISHED: Thu, 14 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Cisco has capitalized on market trends and needs by designing the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) from the ground up, learning from mistakes made by early entrants into the blade market. This entrance enabled Cisco to design from a "clean slate" perspective. UCS delivers on the data center automation promise by implementing the cross-silo management, maximizing flexibility and business agility with true "stateless computing," as well as delivering on the virtualization capabilities required by modern data center initiatives. This EMA white paper begins with a brief UCS overview and then dives into an in-depth TCO analysis, focusing on the primary areas where IT Directors can derive significant benefits: compute, network, storage, virtualization, and management. The paper takes a pragmatic approach to evaluating TCO, which is to say it is largely based on real customer experiences with UCS in the real world. Optimizing Data Center Power Utilizations to Improve Business ProfitabilityPUBLISHED: Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Data center energy efficiency strategies offer significant opportunities for reducing operational costs, meeting regulatory obligations, increasing marketing exposure, and ensuring power availability to meet expanding IT requirements. A variety of practices can be adopted to meet energy reduction goals, including server consolidation, virtualization, power throttling, hardware-level improvements and automated power management. Unfortunately, despite the best of intentions, many businesses have found it difficult to achieve a measurable degree of energy utilization improvements due to a lack of critical information on data center infrastructures and business utilizations. This EMA white paper reveals how effective "Green IT" processes can be adopted to enable a holistic view of the environment that will facilitate informed decision making on optimal energy reduction strategies and configurations. Optimizing Data Center Efficiency: A Prescriptive Model for Reducing Energy Consumption and Improving PerformancePUBLISHED: Thu, 10 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Faced with expanding IT requirements and diminishing operational budgets, todayís enterprises need to adopt new data center infrastructure management processes in order to achieve business goals. Fortunately, solutions for efficiency improvements and cost reductions can be introduced to simplify management practices, improve reliability, enable informed decision-making, minimize energy consumption, and facilitate cooperation across siloed organizations. In this white paper, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) expands its popular IT Management Maturity Model into a Prescriptive Model that provides actionable steps for optimizing data center infrastructure management (DCIM). Also, key elements of automated management solutions, such as Aperture and other platforms offered by Emerson Network Power, are identified and mapped to the EMA DCIM preprictive model. RingCube Expands VDI Value with vDesk VDI EditionPUBLISHED: Wed, 09 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst In February 2011, RingCube launched its introductory release of vDesk VDI Edition, a platform developed to enhance existing Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) implementations, such as Citrix XenDesktop and VMware View, by abstracting desktop configuration customizations. In this impact brief, Enterprise Management Associates identifies how this new solution will extend VDI viability to a whole new audience of knowledge workers that require unique operating environments, achieving faster desktop deployments, simplified endpoint management, and significant enterprise cost savings. Automating Workstation Management: Comparing HP Client Automation with Microsoft System Center Configuration ManagerPUBLISHED: Tue, 25 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst With a broad array of service requirements for enterprise workstation support, choosing a platform for automated client management can be a difficult and confusing task. As an example of how to organize the selection process, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), has assessed leading solutions from Hewlett Packard (HP Client Automation) and Microsoft (System Center Configuration Manager). Provided are functional evaluations on key topics such as asset management, deployment, patching, service management, endpoint virtualization, and security as well as a full implementation cost analysis. PC Lifecycle Management Automation for Mid-Sized Enterprises: Comparing Solutions from IBM, LANDesk, Microsoft, Numara, and SymantecPUBLISHED: Thu, 09 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst As businesses become more reliant on workforce productivity to drive business success, PC lifecycle management practices have accelerated in their importance. These complex requirements are particularly burdensome on mid-market enterprises that often lack the personnel and resources to properly achieve lifecycle management requirements. Fortunately, automated management suites have come of age that can simplify these challenges, but identifying the most comprehensive and cost-effective solutions on the market can be a difficult task for the uninitiated. In this white paper, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) identifies essential evaluation criteria through a side-by-side comparison of five of the leading lifecycle management solutions on the market today: Numara Asset Management Platform version 10, IBM BigFix Systems Lifecycle Management, LANDesk Management Suite 9, Symantec Altiris Client Management Suite 7.0, Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2. VMware SpringSource and Tasktop to Deliver Code2Cloud Development ServicePUBLISHED: Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Responding to concerns among the development community around the need for simplifying the process for developing application for Cloud-hosted environments, VMwareís SpringSource division in partnership with Tasktop Technologies have announced the introduction of a turn-key Cloud hosted service -- Code2Cloud -- that links running applications directly with development processes. In this Impact Brief, EMA evaluates the value of the Code2Cloud platform and its ramifications on the furture of Cloud-based enterprise application development. Best Practices in Office 2010 MigrationPUBLISHED: Thu, 18 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Microsoft Office 2010, the latest edition of the popular software suite, is anticipated to achieve broad adoption by the business community. Many IT managers, however, foresee a variety of complications with the migration to the new platform due to the vast number of workstations in their support stacks that will need to be addressed. Primary concerns include the need to minimize licensing and administrative costs, fitting migration processes into the workload of an already busy administrative staff, and ensuring a successful transition without negatively impacting business productivity. Best practices for migrating to Office 2010 are comprised of processes for the preparation and execution of the software package rollout as well as the identification of automated management resources that will simplify the implementation process and ensure value is achieved in the investment. Business Continuity as a Stepping Stone for Comprehensive Cloud DeploymentPUBLISHED: Thu, 18 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Ensuring business continuity is the single greatest use case for Cloud services today. All enterprises relying on information technology (IT) as a driver for meeting business requirements and achieving profitability require resources that enable consistent backups, prompt disaster recovery, and reliable high-availability of their digital services. However, capital and operational management costs for comprehensive solutions are often out-of-reach for many of todayís budget conscious organizations. Adopting robust business continuity services from a Private Cloud provider allows businesses to cost-effectively ensure consistent IT availability. In this white paper, Enterprise Management associates reveals how leverage Cloud-based business continuity service to achieve other organizational objectives. The Journey to Unified ComputingPUBLISHED: Wed, 27 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst The Cisco Unified Computing System, or UCS, is a well-designed hardware and software architecture that effectively combines management of virtualized compute, network, and storage access with a centralized policy-based manager (known as the Unified Computing Manager) that gets Cisco even closer to fully realizing the Private Cloud vision. This paper will examine Cisco’s Unified Computing System as a solution to the requirements of today’s highly complex data centers and will describe the journey that organizations that invest in UCS can expect to experience. UC4 Service Automation Smoothes the Transition between Legacy and Cloud ApplicationsPUBLISHED: Wed, 27 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst UC4’s Intelligent Service Automation platform provides end-to-end automation for all business services, including Cloud-based resources, reducing costs, proactively detecting and remediating IT issues before they affect the business, and supporting compliance requirements regardless of where services are running—all from a single platform and a single console. This white paper addresses the new business and technical challenges that the Cloud has introduced and describes how UC4’s next-generation service automation platform satisfies these requirements. The Acquisition of Hyperformix: Guess CA was Serious About That Whole Managing the Cloud Thing After AllPUBLISHED: Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst CA Technologies has announced its intent to acquire capacity management solution provider, Hyperformix. With its predictive analytics and modeling capabilities, the Hyperformix capacity management product set provides enterprises with detailed infrastructure utilization and performance data to enable informed purchasing decisions and optimized configurations. In the impact brief, Enterpise Management Associates evaluates the immediat and long-term remifications on this acquisition and identifies some intriguing ramifications on improved support for Cloud and virtualization infrastructures. Evaluating Blade Server Power Consumption: An Independent Analysis of Dell's Power Efficiency Comparison StudyPUBLISHED: Mon, 27 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Driven by the significant operation costs savings that can be achieved by reducing data center power consumption, businesses are looking to invest in energy efficient IT platforms, such as those found in several of today’s advanced blade server architectures. The challenge for many organizations is identifying which solution provides the optimal performance and energy savings to support their particular business goals. In a recently published study, Dell provided details of its comparative analysis of power efficiency for its own enterprise-class blade server platform and comparable solutions offered by HP and IBM. Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) has reviewed both the methodology and results of this study to assess their validity and relevance. Automating Workstation Management: A Comparison of Client Management Solutions SuitesPUBLISHED: Mon, 27 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst With a broad array of service requirements for enterprise workstation support, choosing a platform for automated client management can be a difficult and confusing task. As an example of how to organize the selection process, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), has assessed six products from four different vendors, including: Hewlett Packard (HP), LANDesk, Microsoft, and Symantec. Included in this product comparison are functional evaluations on key topics such as asset management, deployment, patching, service management, endpoint virtualization, and security as well as a full implementation cost analysis of all products in review. HP Consolidates Storage Management with Storage Essentials 6.3PUBLISHED: Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Expanding on its suite of solutions for integrating heterogeneous administration functionality for SAN management, storage resource management, storage provisioning, and storage application infrastructure monitoring, HP has introduced the latest edition of its Storage Essentials management product. Version 6.3 of Storage Essentials was brought to market in June, 2010 and includes improvements in storage virtualization management, additional iSCSI support, an improved user experience, and comprehensive EMC management and reporting. In this Impact Brief, Enterprise Management Associates examines the details of the new release indicates how the solution fits in with HP’s storage management development path. Embarcadero XE: Cross-Platform DB Development and Administration Enhances Database Product LineupPUBLISHED: Wed, 11 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst In May of 2010, Embarcadero Technologies took “ease of use” to the next level across its flagship product line with Embarcadero® XE. XE delivers consolidated support for multiple databases and database versions from a common user interface. It also takes full advantage of Embarcadero’s previously announced All-Access™ and ToolCloud™ technologies to simplify license management and tools deployment. These enhancements simplify the day to day work of database developers and Database Administrators (DBAs) responsible for implementing and managing heterogeneous databases. Designing a Responsible Cloud InfrastructurePUBLISHED: Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Cloud computing implementations have the potential to drive significant improvements in operational efficiency and reductions in operational expenditures. In order to ensure reliability in a Cloud infrastructure, however, organizations need to adopt management practices and infrastructure designs consistent with what Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) has referred to as a “Responsible Cloud” deployment that is secure, reliable, economical, and rapidly extensible. Enterprises can achieve a Responsible Cloud with the introduction of key practices and enabling management tools – such as Avocent’s MergePoint Infrastructure Explorer and DSview 3 solutions – that aid in appropriately sizing the infrastructure, ensuring high-availability, and minimizing operating expenses. Methods for Minimizing the Total Cost of Ownership in Mobile Device ManagementPUBLISHED: Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Enterprise management of mobile devices can be a costly and complicated endeavor. Point solutions that only address specific business requirements for mobility often rely on dedicated hardware and create complex support environments that are expensive to deploy and challenging to maintain. When examining the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a mobile management solution – including both the up-front costs of hardware and software purchases and the hidden costs of support staff time and performance impacts – there are clear advantages to deploying a pragmatic mobile device management solution, such as Odyssey Software’s Athena, that leverage existing infrastructure resources to provide a simplified and cost-effective management platform. Achieving Control Over Data Center Implementations and OperationsPUBLISHED: Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Out-of-control data centers that lack reliability and proper security often result in systemic instances of lost productivity and operational cost overruns. By proactively enabling services for controlling access to the infrastructure and monitoring for activity, management decisions can be made to improve data center services that more effectively meet organizational requirements. Data Center management products, such as Avocent’s DSview 3, HMX, and AMX solutions, provide both the access control and holistic monitoring services to ensure reliable, secure, and cost effective data center implementations. A Survival Guide to Windows 7 MigrationPUBLISHED: Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst As enterprises of all sizes gear up for the challenge of migrating from their principally Windows XP environments to the rapidly adopted Windows 7 platform, they need to consider the most effective processes and tools to achieve a smooth transition with minimal impact on business performance and profitability. Fortunately, automated solutions and best practices are available to provide critical assistance in ensuring reliable deployments, reducing compatibility issues, and maintaining end user productivity. In this white paper, Enterprise Management Associates identifies the most valuable migration practices for achieving a smooth transition to Window 7 and provides guidance on migration tools, such as those included with Kaseya’s K2 Automation Suite, that will significantly reduce the financial costs and business risks associated with staffing and productivity impacts of transitioning to the new environment. Slides: Best Practices for Pragmatic PC Lifecycle ManagementPUBLISHED: Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst These slides will cover: *A pragmatic approach for enabling a holistic view of the entire PC support stack *How to end the break/fix cycle of systemic endpoint failures *What areas of automation are critically required for end-to-end PC management *New practices for integrating asset and service management *Solutions for meeting security and compliance requirements *What key features should be looked for when evaluating automated management solutions Best Practices in Power Profile ManagementPUBLISHED: Fri, 04 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Power policies have become very commonplace configuration options on nearly all of today’s workstation platforms, and yet often they are not managed in a way that minimizes energy consumption without impacting user productivity. With automated power management solutions in place, strategic decisions can be made for standardizing, implementing, and assuring power policy implementations that achieve significant enterprise-wide cost savings and other Green IT goals. In this white paper, Enterprise Management Associates identifies best practices for configuring power policies and indicates what to look for in automated power management tools – such as those included in the Dell KACE K1000 Management Appliance – that can achieve broad operational cost reductions with minimal effort. Taking the Pain out of Compliance with CCM and NNT's Change TrackerPUBLISHED: Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst IT operations are often challenged to meet regulatory requirements and organizational commitments due to limited staff, hardware, and financial resources. Fortunately, best practices have been developed – such as the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) – to identify where process can be improved to meet business needs. In this white paper, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) identifies how ITIL-based change and configuration management practices and tools can be utilized to achieve compliance objectives simply and cost-effectively. Dell Extends Support for Mid-Sized Organizations with Acquisition of KACEPUBLISHED: Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Expanding on its strategy for improved management support in the small and medium business (SMB) market space, Dell has acquired IT management solutions provider, KACE, with the intent of utilizing the popular line of KACE KBOX systems management and deployment appliances to enhance its on-premise offerings. In this impact brief, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) evaluates the impact of this acquisition for mid-market IT infrastructures and the potential opportunities for an expanded development path to support large business IT implementations. Kaseya 2: IT Automation that scales from SOHOs to Large EnterprisesPUBLISHED: Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Kaseya has reengineered its flagship IT Automation Framework from the ground up. The Kaseya 2 family of products is now generally available, providing a more extensible and effective IT automation and management solution. Built for greater scalability, extensibility and functionality, the Kaseya 2 products are being delivered as both SaaS and on-premises offerings. In this impact brief, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) evaluates how this new solution will affect Kaseya’s existing customer base and determines its potential for enabling the vendor to expand into broader penetration into the SMB market space. Symantec Brings Deduplication to Enterprises of All Sizes with NetBackup 7 and Backup Exec 2010PUBLISHED: Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Symantec has announced the introduction of the most recent versions of its celebrated Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) software packages. NetBackup 7 and Backup Exec 2010 both feature comprehensive deduplication technology and virtual server support for IT infrastructures of all sizes. Backup Exec, which focuses on the small business and mid-market segments, also delivered an integrated archiving option targeted at solving a primary-storage management problem. While NetBackup, which serves larger, more complex enterprises, delivered new replication technologies. In this impact brief, Enterprise Management Associates identifies how the simultaneous delivery of integrated deduplication and other new functionality in both products positions Symantec in the storage and BDR arenas. Absolute Software Expands Lifecycle Management Offering with LANrev AcquisitionPUBLISHED: Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Absolute® Software has announced it has completed its acquisition of the LANrev® systems management platform from Pole Position Software. Absolute plans to integrate LANrev’s popular Mac and PC lifecycle configuration management technology with its flagship security and asset management suite, Computrace®. In this Impact Brief, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) evaluates the ramifications of the acquisition to both companies’ existing customer base and to the systems and security management industries as a whole. Details of the expected integration path of the product sets are also discussed as Absolute’s plans are reveled for a unified desktop management platform for both office-based and mobile enterprise IT assets. A Giant Leap for Avocent: LANDesk 9 Advances in Process AutomationPUBLISHED: Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Avocent announces the release of LANDesk 9, the newest version of its popular family of desktop management solutions. The new release boasts improvements in key areas of software asset management, simplified management infrastructure and endpoint security, as well as new enhancements to support migration to Windows 7. In this Impact Brief, EMA examines the new features included in this release, their value to business consumers and their impact on the client management industry. Kaseya IT Automation Framework with KUSM and Intel vProPUBLISHED: Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Check out the detailed, unbiased EMA analyst review of Kaseya IT Automation Framework in Enterprise Management Associates' Green IT – Automated Power Management Solutions Center. The profile covers a range of topics including: >>Product Overview Plus, you can compare Kaseya IT Automation Framework side-by-side with other Green IT – Automated Power Management tools. Explore the Kaseya IT Automation Framework Product Profile and the rest of the Green IT – Automated Power Management Solutions Center today! Faronics Power SavePUBLISHED: Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Check out the detailed, unbiased EMA analyst review of Faronics Power Save in Enterprise Management Associates' Green IT – Automated Power Management Solutions Center. The profile covers a range of topics including: >>Product Overview Plus, you can compare Faronics Power Save side-by-side with other Green IT – Automated Power Management tools. Explore the Faronics Power Save Product Profile and the rest of the Green IT – Automated Power Management Solutions Center today! HP and RIM Join Forces to Enable Holistic Enterprise BlackBerry ManagementPUBLISHED: Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Following the announcement in May 2009 of plans to establish a strategic alliance with Research in Motion (RIM), Hewlett Packard (HP) has introduced the Operations Manager for BlackBerry Enterprise software. This new solution provides a single, holistic view of all IT infrastructure resources supporting BlackBerry devices to enable prompt problem identification and resolution. Top Ten Challenges Often Overlooked in Mobile ManagementPUBLISHED: Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst A new era in workforce mobility is dawning as more and more enterprises rely on mobile devices to achieve organizational goals and drive profitability. This has created a new set of challenges for IT management and operations tasked with supporting these devices and ensuring their performance, security and reliability. Although many tools have been developed to support the most common of these difficulties, several less-often recognized challenges unique to the mobile device world have surfaced that require more advanced solutions for prevention and problem resolution. In this white paper, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) has identified the top 10 most overlooked challenges that need to be dealt with in any remote or mobile management solution. ITIL One Step at a Time: A Worry Free Approach to Implementing a Pragmatic ITIL SolutionPUBLISHED: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is the most popularly adopted best practice implementation available today and includes an IT management framework emphasizing management from the perspectives of both the business and IT service consumers. The process of implementing ITIL, however, can be quite daunting to the uninitiated. All too often, organizations miss the opportunity to implement ITIL initiatives due to the perception that they have too small a budget or too few resources. In truth, however, ITIL is specifically designed to reduce costs and improve the performance of existing staff and hardware investments. In this white paper, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) describes the process and tools necessary to achieve a pragmatic approach to implementing ITIL that will achieve significant improvements to an IT infrastructure with a quick return on investment, motivated staff involvement, and minimal operational disruption during deployment. Achieving Data Center Optimization with Visual ModelingPUBLISHED: Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Growing complexity in today’s dynamic data centers has challenged IT mangers to develop effective methods for problem identification, capacity management and cost reduction. Fortunately, new visual modeling tools have come of age to simplify these management practices by providing a visual representation of physical computing facilities. With this simple to use graphical interface, IT operations staff can instantly identify potential problems with the infrastructure, enable proactive problem prevention, and successfully plan for future data center growth that maximizes usability and minimizes cost. In this white paper, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) identifies the value that can be achieved from visual modeling solutions and indicates specific features to look for when evaluating solutions needed to meet business IT management goals. So, Exactly How Much Cross-Platform Support Can Be Achieved With Microsoft System Center?PUBLISHED: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Today’s dynamic enterprises typically require a very diverse IT infrastructure consisting of a variety of hardware platforms, operating systems and applications to meet business goals and drive profitability. Until recently, however, Microsoft was the one major vendor that did not natively offer a cross-platform management solution to address the breadth of customer needs for heterogeneous support. With the recent release of System Center Operations Manager (OpsMgr) 2007 R2, Microsoft has taken its first major step towards proving end-to-end IT infrastructure management from a single interface. But, how well does this solution stack-up against its competitors in this space, and what are Microsoft’s overall development goals in providing this functionality? In the Advisory Note, Enterprise Management Associates takes a hard look at where Microsoft’s management solution fits in the broader enterprise IT management community and the effect and importance of its strategic alliances with partner vendors (such as Novell, Quest, Tripwire and BridgeWays) in providing a broad cross-platform management solution. Green IT - Automated Power Management Solutions CenterPUBLISHED: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Narrowing down a short list of Green IT – Automated Power Management vendors for your enterprise Green IT – Automated Power Management project can be time-consuming and frustrating. Get to the heart of the matter in hours vs. days (or weeks) with Enterprise Management Associates' Green IT – Automated Power Management Solutions Center! Our expert analysts have cut through the noise and consolidated the real data you need on leading Green IT – Automated Power Management products – and it’s all available in one convenient location. 1E NightWatchman Management Center Green IT Product ProfilePUBLISHED: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Check out the detailed, unbiased EMA analyst review of 1E NightWatchman Management Center in Enterprise Management Associates' Green IT – Automated Power Management Solutions Center. The profile covers a range of topics including:
Plus, you can compare 1E NightWatchman Management Center side-by-side with other Green IT – Automated Power Management tools. Explore the 1E NightWatchman Management Center Product Profile and the rest of the Green IT – Automated Power Management Solutions Center today! 1E NightWatchman Server Green IT Product ProfilePUBLISHED: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Check out the detailed, unbiased EMA analyst review of 1E NightWatchman Server in Enterprise Management Associates' Green IT – Automated Power Management Solutions Center. The profile covers a range of topics including:
Plus, you can compare 1E NightWatchman Server side-by-side with other Green IT – Automated Power Management tools. Explore the 1E NightWatchman Server Product Profile and the rest of the Green IT – Automated Power Management Solutions Center today! Avocent LANDesk Power Management Green IT Product ProfilePUBLISHED: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Check out the detailed, unbiased EMA analyst review of Avocent LANDesk Power Management in Enterprise Management Associates' Green IT – Automated Power Management Solutions Center. The profile covers a range of topics including:
Plus, you can compare Avocent LANDesk Power Management side-by-side with other Green IT – Automated Power Management tools. Explore the Avocent LANDesk Power Management Product Profile and the rest of the Green IT – Automated Power Management Solutions Center today! BigFix Power Management Green IT Product ProfilePUBLISHED: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Check out the detailed, unbiased EMA analyst review of BigFix Power Management in Enterprise Management Associates' Green IT – Automated Power Management Solutions Center. The profile covers a range of topics including:
Plus, you can compare BigFix Power Management side-by-side with other Green IT – Automated Power Management tools. Explore the BigFix Power Management Product Profile and the rest of the Green IT – Automated Power Management Solutions Center today! KACE KBOX Systems Management Appliance Green IT Product ProfilePUBLISHED: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Check out the detailed, unbiased EMA analyst review of KACE KBOX Systems Management Appliance in Enterprise Management Associates' Green IT – Automated Power Management Solutions Center. The profile covers a range of topics including: ScriptLogic Desktop Authority Green IT Product ProfilePUBLISHED: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Check out the detailed, unbiased EMA analyst review of ScriptLogic Desktop Authority in Enterprise Management Associates' Green IT – Automated Power Management Solutions Center. The profile covers a range of topics including: Mastering Disaster Recovery for Mid-Sized Organizations & Remote OfficesPUBLISHED: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst A comprehensive disaster recovery implementation is critical to ensuring computing resources maintain operations in the event of a catastrophic system failure or data loss. Faced with complex challenges – such as diminished support resources, budget constraints, and remote office management requirements – mid-sized organizations often find it difficult to provide the level of disaster recovery services necessary to achieve business goals. This is particularly true if remote offices need to be managed without the availability of on-site staff. Mastering disaster recovery in mid-sized organizations requires the careful identification and implementation of end-to-end backup along with recovery tools and services. In this white paper, Enterprise Management Associates identifies the processes and solutions that will provide a comprehensive backup and disaster recovery solution for organizations with broad requirements but limited resources. SpringSource Unifies Application Lifecycle with Hyperic AcquisitionPUBLISHED: Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Enterprise Java software provider, SpringSource, has disclosed that it has completed the acquisition of all the assets of open sources systems management vendor Hyperic. The integration of product sets from the two companies is expected to bridge the gap between development and operations management infrastructure. In this impact brief, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) examines the implications of this acquisition on the open source community and on the IT management marketplace as a whole. Best Practices in Data Center Power ManagementPUBLISHED: Tue, 12 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Power management techniques for reducing IT energy consumption can provide significant opportunities for operational cost savings and other business value. A comprehensive solution, however, must include a variety of approaches to ensure maximum energy reduction effectiveness both on the desktop and in the data center. Utilizing the appropriate tools, enterprises can overcome the most challenging inhibitors to implementing “green IT” initiatives. In this white paper, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) explores the best approaches to developing, deploying and managing an effective power management solution. Three Immediate Initiatives to Cut IT Costs, and Keep Them DownPUBLISHED: Fri, 01 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst The challenges of a tight global economy are creating significant pressure on IT budgets. ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES® (EMA™) analysts have found that almost twice as many organizations are facing IT budget cuts in 2009 as in 2008, with a median decrease of 10-25%. Even where budgets are increasing, most are only going up by less than 10%. Configuresoft Configuration Manager Virtualization Product ProfilePUBLISHED: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Check out the detailed, unbiased EMA analyst profile of Configuresoft Configuration Manager in Enterprise Management Associates' Virtualization Solutions Center. The Configuresoft virtualization product profile highlights key information about Configuresoft Configuration Manager, including:
The EMA Virtualization Solutions Center also enables you to compare virtualization solutions side-by-side. Get started today by comparing Configuresoft Configuration Manager with 57 other virtualization solutions. Systems Change & Configuration Management (SCCM) Solutions CenterPUBLISHED: Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Narrowing down a short list of Systems Change & Configuration Management (CCM) vendors for your enterprise can be time-consuming and frustrating. Get to the heart of the matter in hours vs. days (or weeks) with Enterprise Management Associates' Systems Change & Configuration Management Solutions Center! Our expert analysts have cut through the noise and consolidated the real data you need on 10 leading Systems Change & Configuration Management products – and it’s all available in one convenient location. Visit the free Systems Change & Configuration Management Solutions Center today to read unbiased analyst profiles of the following Systems Change & Configuration Management (SCCM) products:
Log-in and click "Explore Now" to explore the free Systems Change & Configuration Management Solutions Center today! EminentWare: An Economical Solution to Extending Microsoft IT Management SolutionsPUBLISHED: Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst The EminentWare WSUS 3.0 Extension Pack brings automated IT update and change management to organizations seeking economical solutions to the entire IT management lifecycle. In this product brief, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) evaluates EminentWare’s ability to balance critical IT management functionality with cost-effectiveness. Symantec Achieves Client Management Integration with CMS 7PUBLISHED: Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Symantec elevates the value of its Altiris Client Management Suite with the release of version 7.0. Included are enhancements to deployment, reporting, platform support and process automation. In this impact brief, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) evaluates how well Symantec has delivered on its promise to integrate its disparate product tool sets to achieve a unified client management platform. IBM Beefs Up BPM Offerings with ILOG AcquisitionPUBLISHED: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst IBM has announced it has completed its acquisition of long-time partner, ILOG. ILOG’s suite of business management software solutions will be integrated with IBM’s growing portfolio of Business Performance Management (BPM) and Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) solutions as part of its WebSphere business unit. In this impact brief, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) evaluates how this new acquisition will affect the marketability of IBM’s BMP solutions. BigFix Platform and BigFix IT Policy Enforcement Systems Change & Configuration Management Product ProfilePUBLISHED: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Check out the detailed, unbiased EMA analyst review of BigFix Platform and BigFix IT Policy Enforcement in Enterprise Management Associates' Systems Change & Configuration Management (SCCM) Solutions Center. The BigFix SCCM product profile covers a range of topics including:
Plus, you can compare BigFix Platform and BigFix IT Policy Enforcement with 9 other Systems CCM products. Explore the BigFix Platform and BigFix IT Policy Enforcement Product Profile and the rest of the Systems Change & Configuration Management (Systems CCM) Solutions Center today! CA CCM Systems Change & Configuration Management Product ProfilePUBLISHED: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Check out the detailed, unbiased EMA analyst review of CA CCM solutions in Enterprise Management Associates' Systems Change & Configuration Management (SCCM) Solutions Center. Products covered include: The CA CCM product profile covers a range of topics on these SSCM products including:
Plus, you can compare CA CCM solutions with 9 other Systems CCM products. Explore the CA CCM Product Profile and the rest of the Systems Change & Configuration Management (Systems CCM) Solutions Center today! Criston Precision Systems Change & Configuration Management Product ProfilePUBLISHED: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Check out the detailed, unbiased EMA analyst review of Criston Precision in Enterprise Management Associates' Systems Change & Configuration Management (SCCM) Solutions Center. The Criston SCCM product profile covers a range of topics including:
Plus, you can compare Criston Precision with 9 other Systems CCM products. Explore the Criston Precision Product Profile and the rest of the Systems Change & Configuration Management (Systems CCM) Solutions Center today! IBM Tivoli CCM Systems Change & Configuration Management Product ProfilePUBLISHED: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Check out the detailed, unbiased EMA analyst review of IBM Tivoli CCM Solutions in Enterprise Management Associates' Systems Change & Configuration Management (SCCM) Solutions Center. Products covered include:
The IBM Tivoli CCM product profile covers a range of topics including:
Plus, you can compare IBM Tivoli CCM solutions with 9 other Systems CCM products. Explore the IBM Tivoli CCM Product Profile and the rest of the Systems Change & Configuration Management (Systems CCM) Solutions Center today! KACE KBOX Systems Change & Configuration Management Product ProfilePUBLISHED: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Check out the detailed, unbiased EMA analyst review of KACE KBOX in Enterprise Management Associates' Systems Change & Configuration Management (SCCM) Solutions Center. Products covered include:
The KACE SCCM product profile covers a range of topics including:
Plus, you can compare KACE KBOX with 9 other Systems CCM products. Explore the KACE KBOX Product Profile and the rest of the Systems Change & Configuration Management (Systems CCM) Solutions Center today! nCircle Configuration Compliance Manager Systems Change & Configuration Management Product ProfilePUBLISHED: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Check out the detailed, unbiased EMA analyst review of nCircle Configuration Compliance Manager in Enterprise Management Associates' Systems Change & Configuration Management (SCCM) Solutions Center. The nCircle SCCM product profile covers a range of topics including:
Plus, you can compare nCircle Configuration Compliance Manager with 9 other Systems CCM products. Explore the nCircle Configuration Compliance Manager Product Profile and the rest of the Systems Change & Configuration Management (Systems CCM) Solutions Center today! NNT Change Tracker Systems Change & Configuration Management Product ProfilePUBLISHED: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Check out the detailed, unbiased EMA analyst review of NNT Change Tracker in Enterprise Management Associates' Systems Change & Configuration Management (SCCM) Solutions Center. The NNT SCCM product profile covers a range of topics including:
Plus, you can compare NNT Change Tracker with 9 other Systems CCM products. Explore the NNT Change Tracker Product Profile and the rest of the Systems Change & Configuration Management (Systems CCM) Solutions Center today! Solidcore S3 Control Systems Change & Configuration Management Product ProfilePUBLISHED: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Check out the detailed, unbiased EMA analyst review of Solidcore S3 Control in Enterprise Management Associates' Systems Change & Configuration Management (SCCM) Solutions Center. The Solidcore SCCM product profile covers a range of topics including:
Plus, you can compare Solidcore S3 Control with 9 other Systems CCM products. Explore the Solidcore S3 Control Product Profile and the rest of the Systems Change & Configuration Management (Systems CCM) Solutions Center today! Symantec Altiris CCM Solutions Systems Change & Configuration Management Product ProfilePUBLISHED: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Check out the detailed, unbiased EMA analyst review of Symantec Altiris CCM solutions in Enterprise Management Associates' Systems Change & Configuration Management (SCCM) Solutions Center. Products covered include:
The Symantec Altiris SCCM product profile covers a range of topics including:
Plus, you can compare Symantec Altiris CCM products with 9 other Systems CCM products. Explore the Symantec Altiris CCM Product Profile and the rest of the Systems Change & Configuration Management (Systems CCM) Solutions Center today! Tripwire Enterprise CCM Systems Change & Configuration Management Product ProfilePUBLISHED: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Check out the detailed, unbiased EMA analyst review of Tripwire Enterprise CCM in Enterprise Management Associates' Systems Change & Configuration Management (SCCM) Solutions Center. The Tripwire SCCM product profile covers a range of topics including:
Plus, you can compare Tripwire Enterprise CCM with 9 other Systems CCM products. Explore the Tripwire Enterprise Product Profile and the rest of the Systems Change & Configuration Management (Systems CCM) Solutions Center today! EMC Enters the CCM Ring and Takes the Gloves OffPUBLISHED: Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst EMC introduces Server Configuration Manager and Configuration Analytics Manager, catapulting them into the position of a major player in configuration management and change detection. EMC’s solutions identify system and application configuration settings and changes, which are fed into a powerful set of analytics in order to achieve regulatory compliance goals. In this impact brief Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) discusses the key offerings included in this new solution and indicates how it stacks up against its competitors. U.S. Government Wastes $1 Billion Annually on Poor Desktop Power Management PracticesPUBLISHED: Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst According to recent primary research conducted by ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES® (EMA™) analysts, IT practices performed by government agencies (local, state and federal) are by far the most wasteful of any industry demographic. This Advisory Note specifically focuses on government sector desktop power utilization data as determined in the EMA Research Report, “The True Value of Green IT,” and indicates opportunities both for government institutions seeking to reduce IT energy consumption and for Green IT vendors seeking to expand into this market space. Increasing Data Center Efficiency with HP Thermal LogicPUBLISHED: Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Expanding on its Green Business Technology Initiative, HP has expanded its Thermal Logic portfolio of data center energy efficient solutions to include new BladeSystem hardware and software solutions. Included is new Dynamic Power Capping technology designed to optimize data center power capacity. In this impact brief, Enterprise Management Associates reviews and assess the value of HP’s new Green IT offerings and provides recommendation for organizations seeking to achieve data center energy efficiency. The True Value of Green IT - An EMA Research ReportPUBLISHED: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Do Green IT solutions really bring quantifiable return on investment to organization seeking to reduce operational costs and achieve sustainability goals? If so, which specific initiatives provide the greatest value? During July of 2008, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) conducted extensive primary research into the information technology (IT) power consumption and reduction practices to answer the most vital Green IT management questions. This EMA Research Report takes a hard look at how computing resources are being utilized in traditional IT implementations both in the data center and on the desktop and then compares these practices with the most popular energy efficient Green IT implementations. The analysis of the results reveals startling data on the real world value of Green IT solutions. Slides from The True Value of Green IT: Quantifying the ROI of Energy EfficiencyPUBLISHED: Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst These slides explore today’s most popular Green IT solutions. Topics include:
Going Green: A Strategic Guide to Green IT ManagementPUBLISHED: Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Green IT solutions have established themselves as important – and in some cases, critical – deployments for increasing energy efficiencies in order to reduce operational costs, achieve power utilization objectives and ensure sustainable value in IT investments. Rising energy costs and, in some cases, limited power availability are driving institutions to find solutions that will ensure long term sustainability for IT assets that are essential to on-going business success and profitability. Nonetheless, with the increased number of available solutions, it is often unclear to IT managers which green IT implementations will maximize their energy efficiency to achieve business goals. In this white paper, Enterprise Management Associates takes a look at green IT management strategies that establish clear processes for power reduction that will enhance overall IT value to the business. Fluke Networks Acquires NetAlly: Adds Strong VoIP to its ArsenalPUBLISHED: Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst This EMA impact brief covers the August 18, 2008 announcement by Fluke Networks of its acquisition of the NetAlly product line from Viola Networks. The synergies between Fluke Networks’ existing products, the challenges of next-generation network management and the key ramifications of the announcement are presented. The paper concludes with EMA’s perspective on the acquisition. Seeing Green - IBM Tivoli Provides a Holistic View into Datacenter Power UsagePUBLISHED: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst As part of IBM’s “Big Green” initiative to invest in the development of solutions designed to increase energy efficiency, IBM Tivoli Monitoring has been expanded to consolidate power utilization data from a number of sources in order to provide a truly holistic view of power consumption across an IT infrastructure. Organizations struggling to identify best practices for implementing green solution inside their datacenters are now able to utilize a single centralized interface for identifying potential power-related problems and improving the energy efficiency of their IT investments. In this impact brief, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) reviews IBM Tivoli’s new monitoring capabilities and its value in managing Green IT deployments. Enabling End-To-End IT Management with Microsoft System Center and Quest SoftwarePUBLISHED: Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Although many systems management solutions are on the market today, few provide the breadth of support necessary to enable a truly holistic view of an entire enterprise-wide support stack. Certainly Microsoft has been hailed for providing a comprehensive and easy-to-use solution with System Center Operations Manager 2007 (Operations Manager), but until recently it has focused its development efforts on only Windows-based platforms and its recent foray into heterogeneous support can be viewed as limited at best. Into this arena steps Quest Software, providing solutions that fill the gaps in Operations Manager support to achieve an end-to-end IT management implementation. In this white paper, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) takes an in-depth look at Quest’s products and shows how they complement Operations Manager to provide a truly end-to-end systems management solution. Key Criteria for Developing a Successful IT Deployment StrategyPUBLISHED: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Today’s IT support organizations are taxed heavily to meet deployment goals reliably, cost-effectively, and in a timely manner. As many enterprises have already discovered, it is possible to establish control over IT implementations by developing effective deployment strategies that streamline operations to reduce costs and increase both IT staff performance and overall value in the IT investments. Key to the success of any modern day deployment strategy is the utilization of advanced tools that simplify a wide range of common IT administrative chores by providing centralized interfaces for organizing critical data about the IT infrastructure and automating repeatable deployment tasks. In this paper, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) outlines the process for developing an IT deployment strategy that will reduce operational costs, improve IT reliability, and maximize IT’s ability to achieve business goals. Hyperic Ensures Reliability in Cloud Computing SolutionsPUBLISHED: Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Cloud computing service vendors expound the value of their highly-available, high-performance architectures as a selling point for their solutions. It is ironic, then, that the single greatest deterrent to broad utilization of cloud solutions is the difficulties involved in quantifying the reliability of the servicing architecture. To achieve a true understanding of the health and performance status of an IT deployment, client organizations must attain a holistic view of the status both inside and outside the cloud infrastructure. Recognizing the importance of this functionality to the success of cloud computing implementations, open source web infrastructure management provider, Hyperic, has developed CloudStatus - a performance monitoring service for the popular cloud solution, Amazon Web Services (AWS). In this impact brief, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) reviews the value of Hyperic's new solution and how it will affect the cloud vendor market space. KACE Virtual Systems Management Appliances: New Options for Cutting Costs and ComplexityPUBLISHED: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Increasing IT complexity continues to challenge organizations to streamline operations in order to achieve maximum value out of their IT investments. At the same time, many businesses have turned to virtualization as a method for enabling efficient and highly available computing environments. Although this has certainly increased the need for solutions that will simplify IT support responsibilities, it also has provided a platform on which a systems management solution can function with greater effectiveness and significant cost savings. Recognizing the value in this utilization, KACE has introduced the Virtual KBOX (V-KBOX), which leverages existing VMWare infrastructures to provide a solution that balances advanced systems management support functionality with a very affordable price structure. In this Impact Brief, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) takes a look at this new technology and analyzes its effect and value in the marketplace. Beyond System Center: Addressing Systems Management Needs Across the Entire IT InfrastructurePUBLISHED: Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Microsoft's System Center suite provides powerful automated system management solution for many organizations. However, that functionality is limited in scope to only select platforms and practice areas. Although Microsoft has recently announced its intent to support heterogeneous IT architectures, the breadth of support is not innately extended to all architectures, systems and/or devices found in today's dynamic IT infrastructures. Add to this the need for more advanced functionality in areas including network management, disaster recovery and virtualization and the need for expanding the scope of System Center's abilities becomes clear. Businesses need solutions that leverage System Center's core functionality and build on its extensible architecture to support a broader IT infrastructure. In this white paper, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) explores enhancements to System Center that can improve IT productivity, increase return on IT investments, and help better drive business profitability. Microsoft Announces System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008PUBLISHED: Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst At Microsoft Management Summit 2008, Microsoft announced the immediate (beta) availability of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008. Significant new features include the ability to manage not just Microsoft Virtual Server and Hyper-V, but also VMware ESX and VI3, among many other improvements over the previous release, VMM 2007. Slides from Expanding IT Support Staff Capabilities While Reducing WorkloadsPUBLISHED: Thu, 01 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Traditional help desk support models distribute both personnel and resources in a way that reduces their effectiveness and limits their ability to address business IT objectives. As enterprises continue to increase their reliance on IT implementations to achieve profitability, the need to identify new methods for enhancing IT support has grown proportionally. Fortunately, solutions do exist today that can simplify incident management tasks while providing the structure necessary to facilitate a broader use of personnel skills and knowledge. The key to success is in eliminating physical support limitations and enabling IT professionals to access systems and resources virtually with advanced remote desktop access functionality. This slide deck explores the fundamentals of a new method that can dramatically improve the efficiency and responsiveness of help desk support organizations to drive business objectives and maximize value in IT investments.
Slides from The Business Case for Green ITPUBLISHED: Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst The increased usage of data center energy consumption and its associated environmental impacts have taken center stage of late primarily for their far-reaching impact on the sustainability of business IT operations. Fortunately, solutions do exist today for optimizing power consumption in today’s data centers. The key is having a deep understanding of data center conditions to empower a more energy efficient utilization. These slides will help you learn how to:
The Business Case for Green ITPUBLISHED: Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Green IT solutions have certainly garnered a great deal of attention in recent days. As businesses discover the value these solutions have for improving their profitability, interest has grown beyond just social concern for the environment. Traditional IT development and implementation strategies typically envisioned physical hardware as a disposable commodity and rarely considered power consumption as a management concern. Now, however, compliance initiatives and skyrocketing energy costs are causing businesses to take a new look at how there IT is being utilized. This has prompted hardware and software vendors to enhance their solutions and develop new technologies that reduce waste in corporate IT infrastructures. In the Advisory Note, EMA takes a look at the value these green solutions bring to the business and shows how Green IT initiatives can facilitate sustained profitability in today’s dynamic enterprises. LinMin Announces Acquisition and New Release of Open Country Provisioning SolutionPUBLISHED: Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst In 2007, Open Source Systems Management provider "Open Country" mysteriously disappeared from the system management marketplace. Now, systems management software provider LinMin has announced it has acquired, enhanced, and is making available the successful provisioning portions of the Open Country product to be re-branded as the LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning (LBMP) solution. Currently focused on supporting Linux environments, LBMP is designed to install and configure systems at the raw boot level and to perform "imaging" functionality that will capture and restore entire disk snapshots to achieve disaster recovery goals. Boasting a very attractive price structure, LBMP is expected to see significant deployment in budget-conscious institutions needing provisioning functionality to achieve business implementation goals. In this Impact Brief, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) explores the history behind this new product and how it will shake up the provisioning management market space. Ecora More Attractive to Large Enterprises with Auditor Pro 4.5PUBLISHED: Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Focusing on the expanding IT management challenges inherent in today's complex enterprise-level organizations, Ecora has announced the release of Auditor Pro 4.5. With improved reporting functionality, greater control over data collection capabilities, facilities for tracking compliance status, and new integrations into 3rd party Help Desk and CMDB solutions, Auditor Pro 4.5 significantly increases its attractiveness to businesses with large IT implementations. In this product brief, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) reviews how these new features will help Ecora's solution scale to larger enterprises, increasing its value to a larger market space. Green Computing: Using IT Automation to Achieve Energy EfficiencyPUBLISHED: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst The concern over the environmental impact of the increased usage of computing technology has far reaching ramifications on the sustainability of business IT operations. Already increasing energy costs and expanding power utilization needs are having a direct impact on business profitability. Add to this the social concerns over the global climate crisis and conservation efforts that have led to regulatory compliance initiatives, and businesses are increasingly pressured to find new solutions to ensuring IT business implementations are more eco-friendly. Chief among these initiatives is to develop improvements that increase energy efficiency and eliminate power wasted by inactive servers and workstations. In this white paper, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) reviews current green computing solutions and identifies the tools necessary for achieving sustainability while reducing operational expenses. Is ITIL Right for Medium Enterprises?PUBLISHED: Wed, 19 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst As ITIL grows in acceptance in large enterprises, mid-market companies have begun to wonder if the well established implementation of best practices is for them as well. In this white paper, Enterprise Management Associates interprets the value of ITIL for medium businesses, indicates which portions of ITIL are most appropriate for mid-sized companies, and provides a guide for identifying tools and processes that will ensure success in implementing ITIL processes. Developing an IT Management Strategy for SuccessPUBLISHED: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Choosing an IT management strategy would seem to be a critical component of achieving both IT and, by extension, business success, but - strangely - many enterprises have not embraced this powerful tool, instead relying on antiquated "wait and pray" approaches to IT administration that leave businesses vulnerable to risk, decrease business productivity, and dedicate IT support teams to perpetual reactive "firefighting". To achieve true IT success, businesses must adopt an IT management strategy that is simple to use, cost-effective, allows for a non-impacting phased-in deployment, and provides a holistic view of the IT infrastructure. Included here are Enterprise Management Associates' (EMA's) recommendations for how to adopt and implement a successful IT management strategy. Red Hat and Hyperic Announce Joint Development PlansPUBLISHED: Mon, 03 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Red Hat and Hyperic announced their commitment to joint development of a common systems management platform. In this impact brief, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) discusses how the resulting product will greatly enhance Hyperic's marketability by siding them with a world leader in open source solutions and increase stability for Red Hat installations. KACE Scales to Larger EnterprisesPUBLISHED: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Continuing its focus on the needs of the midmarket, KACE has recently announced enhancements to its line of KBOX systems management appliances that collectively make the products more attractive to larger businesses in that market space. These advances are being offered without an increase in the cost of the solutions and directly challenge larger systems management vendors that have been targeting the same customer base. This impact brief describes the impact this announcement has on the marketplace, what it means to the consumer, and how these new features increase the attractiveness of the KBOX to a broader base of potential customers. Automated Intelligence: A New Approach to Systems ManagementPUBLISHED: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst In the world of IT management, we live in complicated times. Increases in support requirements and demands for IT resources are converging with a need for cost reductions and increased productivity. At the heart of the problem are IT infrastructures that have become so complex that traditional methods of IT Systems Management have become obsolete and ineffective. For IT managers intent on maintaining a stable IT environment that minimizes downtime and maximizes performance, systems management practices need to be adopted that automatically pinpoint abnormalities in applications and infrastructures to enable prompt problem identification and resolution. Automated Intelligence is one such method that allows management of complex environments by applying real time analytics to monitoring data, providing the intelligence necessary to prevent business impacting problems. Simplifying Change and Configuration ManagementPUBLISHED: Wed, 03 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst The key to maintaining quality systems management over an enterprise IT infrastructure is establishing control over each individual component to ensure productivity is maximized and risk is minimized. But how can IT managers achieve this level of control when IT environments have become overwrought with complexity and IT requirements have expanded beyond the ability of traditional resources to support them? The answer lies in automated Change and Configuration Management (CCM) packages and certainly more than a few have become available over the past decade to fill this need. Unfortunately, there is little information available beyond marketing materials to help IT managers determine the most appropriate solution and how to best configure it for their particular environment. Included in this advisory note are recommendations from Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) on choosing an automated CCM solution that is efficient and cost effective. Configuration Audit and Control: CCM Success with Tripwire Enterprise 7PUBLISHED: Wed, 12 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst It's hard to manage an IT infrastructure these days. The challenges arise from systems, networks and applications that have advanced to be more feature rich and dynamic in scope. Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) has identified 10 key elements essential to any CAC solution. How well a solution provides those requirements and, in turn, how relevant each requirement is to a particular business, is the cornerstone of determining the appropriateness of a CAC product. Tripwire has recently announced the release of Tripwire® Enterprise 7, a CAC solution specifically designed to achieve all 10 of these critical elements. In this white paper, EMA has evaluated how Tripwire Enterprise 7 stacks up against each of the 10 elements to help determine its relevance to each particular business IT model. Systems Change and Configuration Management: A Guide to Choosing Effective Solutions for Today's IT ChallengesPUBLISHED: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Today's IT operations teams face significant challenges in navigating the complexities of ever expanding IT requirements. Responding to these systems management needs are Change and Configuration Management (CCM) solutions that provide both the detailed configuration knowledge and the control necessary to manage change in today's dynamic IT infrastructures. Unfortunately, though, with the wide variety of solutions currently available, choosing a package and determining how best to utilize available tools can be a challenge in itself.Join EMA Analyst Steve Brasen for a detailed overview of today's CCM technology and solutions and discover not only how to resolve the systems management problems of today but also how to strategically align your business IT architecture for the future.Attend this 1-hour event and learn how to: Addressing the IT Requirements of The Fortune 100,000 -- A Case for Systems Management AppliancesPUBLISHED: Mon, 27 Aug 2007 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst The use of nomenclature initially established by Fortune Magazine to identify top ranking public corporations as measured by gross revenue has become a mainstay in the business vernacular. Fortune 100, 500, and 1000 rankings have defined specific niches in corporate marketing to meet specific business requirements. From an IT standpoint, these large businesses have garnished a significant portion of attention from IT vendors who develop products to meet their needs with the assumption that targeting high revenue customers translates into maximized profits - but does it really? The US census bureau has identified more than 100,000 domestic firms between the largest revenue makers and those with less then 100 employees. Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) takes a look at this Fortune 100,000 community - their IT needs and the solutions the solutions necessary for them to achieve success in today's complex market. Tripwire Enterprise 7 Hits the Mark on Relieving IT Management PainPUBLISHED: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst This Impact Brief discusses the announcement of Tripwire's Enterprise 7 release made on July 16, 2007. It describes the IT challenges faced by enterprise support stacks in managing Change and Configuration Management (CCM) initiatives. A brief analysis of the Tripwire Enterprise 7 tool is presented within the overall market context with a focus on current and future trends. Configuration Audit and Control: 10 Critical Factors to CCM SuccessPUBLISHED: Tue, 24 Jul 2007 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Change and Configuration Management (CCM) tools and processes have become rather commonplace in today's business community as an effective way to gain control of dynamic IT environments. However, traditional change management and configuration management tools do not comprehensively address all aspects of the vast configuration details inherent in complex IT infrastructures. As businesses have instituted internal, industry, and government mandated regulatory compliance, the need for audit data to prove conformity has also become a necessity. Configuration audit and control provides a single, independent source for enforcing and reporting on a change policy across an organization. This white paper defines the scope of Configuration Audit and Control and introduces 10 key elements to a successful implementation. Microsoft Forefront; and Microsoft System Center: Leading the Industry in Integration of Security and Systems Management.PUBLISHED: Tue, 26 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Microsoft has taken the first steps to instituting a convergence of security and operations management by showcasing new interoperability between, and committing to further integration for its Forefront suite of security management solutions with the System Center suite of systems management solutions for streamlined performance in ensuring the integrity of a Windows-based IT Infrastructure. With these interoperable solutions that integrate broad systems management capabilities and a broad security framework, Microsoft has thrown down the gauntlet to competitors that, through lack of ability or lack of desire, have so far not been able to deliver this level of integration. In this paper, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) explores the value this integration offers to the industry. Professionals will gain an appreciation for the benefits of the Microsoft initiative, for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of comprehensive IT risk management, simplifying the environment, and freeing IT professionals-and the business-to be both more productive, and more secure. Selecting an Enterprise Systems Management SolutionPUBLISHED: Tue, 19 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Today's IT managers face a variety of complexities in addressing the needs of dynamic business and IT requirements. Gone are the days when a small group of technical administrators, without any additional tools or resources, could magically resolve issues as they occurred with efficiency and cost-effectiveness. To successfully navigate the complex support requirements inherent in the current reality of heterogeneous environments, regulatory requirements, and business centric support models that require rapid deployment, problem resolution and return on investment, IT managers must utilize detail-oriented, automated tools that are customizable to their specific needs. This document provides the tools and background necessary for choosing enterprise systems management tools that provide the flexibility of functionality to administer the broad needs of each unique IT infrastructure while at the same time provide simplicity in their use and implementation. Configuration Intelligence InitiativePUBLISHED: Mon, 26 Mar 2007 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst As IT infrastructures continue to increase in size and complexity the need to optimize overall system performance and measure productivity becomes paramount for ensuring its economic feasibility. Today's Configuration Management tools have focused on collecting and reporting statistics, data, logs and failures, but have not significantly addressed the need for analyzing this data to determine best configuration practices and improve organizational level efficiencies. To address this industry need, Configuresoft has developed its Configuration Intelligence Initiative, designed to link core systems management disciplines of configuration and change management, provisioning and service desk information into actionable analytics needed to optimize and secure IT investments and services. This document describes how Configuresoft's analytics functionality allows organizations to measure, correlate and optimize configuration information, enabling IT management to ask and answer questions that were too complex for traditional management systems. Ecora Releases Auditor Pro 4.1PUBLISHED: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Building on its core competency of automating change and compliance audit reporting, Ecora Software has announced new features included in its release of Auditor Professional 4.1. These features support Ecora's commitment to reduce the cost of audit preparation related to compliance mandates, decrease downtime, improve security and provide IT professionals with the tools to be operationally efficient. This brief provides an overview of Ecora's change and configuration management solution, a detailed look at the features provided in the latest release, and a look at Ecora's business direction and how it will impact the industry as a whole. HP Advances in Unified Infrastructure ManagementPUBLISHED: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Following the increased demand for improvements in system management, Hewlett-Packard (HP) has introduced several additions to its server and storage management applications and services. Consistent with HP commitment to provide a Unified Infrastructure Management solution, these enhancements have been designed to provide cost savings, streamline and automate the management of IT operations, and improve the performance and efficiency of HP ProLiant and BladeSystem servers. This document outlines the enhancements and provides EMA’s perspective on how this technology impacts HP ProLiant and BladeServers customers, heterogeneous IT environments, and the service management industry as a whole. Sun Solaris Updates for Q107PUBLISHED: Wed, 24 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Sun Microsystems has announced new features and functionality with its release of Solaris 10 11/06. Enhancements include improvements to security, virtualization, and clustering, as well as the introduction of new support services. This Impact Brief describes these new enhancements and provides EMA's perspective on how Sun's OpenSolaris will affect current and prospective users of Linux and other midrange solutions. Citrix to Acquire ArdencePUBLISHED: Mon, 08 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Citrix Systems Inc., provider of application delivery infrastructure software, has announced its intent to acquire real-time operating systems and on-demand provisioning provider, Ardence Inc. The merging of these two companies' core functionalities will provide improvements in provisioning desktops, managing Citrix Presentation Server components, and dynamically administering server images for Citrix NetScaler customers as web application load changes. This brief describes Enterprise Management Associates' (EMA) perspective on what this mearger of functionalities will mean for end users of both products, and how the acquisition will affect the industry as a whole. Opalis Software Releases OIS 5.3PUBLISHED: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +0000AUTHOR: Steve Brasen - Former EMA Analyst Opalis, provider of a suite of IT Process Automation software, has recently announced the release of version 5.3 of its Opalis Integration Server. New enhancements to the product include solutions-based policies, integration packs and dashboard views, which provide a more robust and simplified automation environment. Compliance with ITIL based industry best practices coupled with a broad range of integration and "out-of-the-box" automation policies provide a positive enhancement to any enterprise support environment. Enterprise Management Associates provides an analysis of the new features, how it impacts the IT support operations industry, and guidance for end users seeking support performance improvements. |
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