Infrastructure Management Report

In recognition of the fact that Butler Group Technology Evaluation and Comparison Reports are read by a wide variety of senior management personnel, each of whom will possess specific areas of interest and expertise, this Report has been written with the aim of making each section as free-standing as is practical. Accordingly, Report sections can be read in any combination or order, and a brief summary of each section is presented here for the convenience of readers who wish to locate particular areas of interest.

Section Two - Introduction

This section provides an introduction to the Infrastructure Management market. It reviews and considers the factors that have contributed to the IT environment of today. There is discussion of why Butler Group believes there is a need for Infrastructure Management, and what situations could be remedied by its use. Lastly, Butler Group introduces its model that presents the different levels of functionality that vendors, particularly in the performance and availability sector of Infrastructure Management, are offering in their solutions.

Section Three - Technology Features

This section looks in more detail at the component technologies commonly found within Infrastructure Management products across the five stages of Butler Group's Infrastructure Management Model. The monitoring technology that forms the foundation for any Infrastructure Management product within the area of Performance and Availability has not been neglected. However, particular attention has been paid to the newer technologies that provide proactive management and fault fixing, intelligence, and correlation, and are enabling vendors to offer the higher levels of functionality detailed in stages two and three of Butler Group's Infrastructure Management Model, and the new business level functionality detailed in stages four and five. The standards and protocols and integration that are necessary to any product in this area are also covered within this section.