As an avid follower of both Network World and Denise Dubie, I really enjoyed the a recent post on the "5 Must-Have IT Management Technologies for 2010." While the article includes service hot topic trends like virtualization/virtual systems and IT service assurance, I was excited to see IT Process Automation included on the list. Far too often, analyst and publication "new year predictions" focus on only the latest and gee whiz technologies that won't be implemented widely for years (I think I was reading how SIP and VoIP would eliminate 90% of landlines in 3 years - and that was in 1999). It's great to see how organizations will be able to successfully deploy the new technologies.
Denise's article highlights the importance of automation, especially as networks become more complex with virtualization and cloud computing. Jim Frey of EMA stated it perfectly, "People need automation for everything from provisioning virtual
servers to auditing environments to ensuring consistent configurations.
On the monitoring side, automation will be able to keep up with the
pace of virtual environments and recognize when changes happen in ways
a human operator simply could not. Automation will even be used to perform analytics and help find
potential problems before they harm IT service delivery in these
environments."
When dealing with new technologies, there is a huge difference between deploying the technology and deploying it successfully. IT process automation and managing network configuration, change and compliance will be a critical part in the success for organizations today, tomorrow and throughout the new decade.
Learn how Netcordia helps automate network change and configuration. You can also watch a recorded presentation on the Impact of Virtualization on Network Managers to see how managing your network infrastructure can greatly improve efficiency and reduce the risk of poor performance.