CA promises savings with Lean IT releases

Up to 70 per cent of an IT budget goes on day-to-day operations

Software firm CA has announced a host of products under a new Lean IT banner, which it claims can help IT managers reduce waste, increase productivity and boost customer service.

The company said today that the new releases would help firms to optimise the use of critical IT systems, covering a range of areas from application performance management to infrastructure and recovery management solutions.

All products are supported with services designed to ease adoption and implementation, and CA will host a number of 'Lean Thinking' seminars in conjunction with analyst firms including Forrester and Gartner.

Included in the releases are enhancements to CA's Wily Application Performance Management tools, which it said would show the real-time health of an application as well as how customer service is affecting the bottom line.

Also falling under the Lean IT umbrella is CA Enterprise Log Manager. The software was launched at last week's RSA security show to help firms improve security and compliance across enterprise systems by monitoring firewalls, operating systems and applications.

Other releases, including the updated ARCserve Backup and CA XOsoft data and storage products, come with 'sweeteners' such as free copies of extra software and one year of unpaid maintenance work.

"We are in a recession and organisations are looking at ways to reduce cost while increasing productivity. Tools that can help to automate processes can be invaluable," said Colin Bannister, vice president for technical sales at CA in the UK.

Joanne Moretti, senior vice president of product marketing at CA, added: "On average a staggering 70 per cent of an IT budget is consumed on day-to-day operations, giving IT little room to flex its true capabilities.

"CA's Lean IT solutions reduce costs through resource optimisation and process automation, allowing IT to invest in higher-value deliverables. And every incremental improvement can mean a dramatic difference in IT's value proposition to the business."

CA has also updated its IT governance software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering, CA Clarity PPM On Demand, launched last year.

"On demand is a very attractive proposition to chief information officers, and the SaaS model is very attractive for us. Clarity is our first SaaS offering, but there will be more to follow," said Bannister.

Virtual systems are also covered, with new versions of CA's Spectrum Infrastructure Manager and eHealth Performance Manager. These are designed to detect, prevent and restore issues across actual and virtual IT environments, while systems management information is presented on one easy to use screen, the firm said.

CA plans to roll out the new releases between now and the end of the current financial quarter.