BMC Software Announces Initiatives and Solutions to Improve Business Productivity through Application Service Assurance

Business Wire, Jan 19, 1999

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 19, 1999--

ASA Offerings Shift IT Focus from Managing Technology Components to

Managing Application Services from the End-Users' Perspective

BMC Software Inc. (Nasdaq:BMCS), today announced strategic initiatives and solutions to help organizations improve business productivity through Application Service Assurance (ASA) at the BMC Software Business Partner Executive Conference in Lake Tahoe, Nev. First unveiled in 1998, ASA is the industry's innovative approach to dramatically enhance the availability, performance and recovery of business-critical applications by targeting the most costly elements of enterprise computing--downtime and responsiveness for enhanced business and user productivity.

The company outlined breakthrough announcements that redefine enterprise systems management by extending ASA through:

-- A fresh approach to "true" service management -- A fully integrated networked applications management solution -- The most complete enterprise management solution for ecommerce -- A comprehensive suite of business partner programs

"BMC Software's Application Service Assurance strategy and technologies are leaders in the marketplace. We chose them for that reason," said Scott Mott, open systems infrastructure analyst at Texas Instruments. "They allowed us to pick and choose the solutions that met Texas Instruments' business applications' requirements and enabled us to implement them quickly and worldwide."

"Information Technology (IT) is critical to business success in highly competitive markets," said Max Watson, chairman, president and chief executive officer of BMC Software. "To win, IT organizations must embrace a shift towards service management that incorporates the people, the management processes and IT organizational changes required to deliver optimal service to the business. This can only be achieved by managing application services from the end-users' perspective."

"When working with ISVs and partners, Microsoft looks for companies with vision, with experience with real customer issues, and that have customers that are already relying on them to deliver management solutions. BMC Software meets all these criteria," said Michael Emanuel, Microsoft product manager, Systems Management Infrastructure and Products. "For example, if an ecommerce solution is not available, the loss of revenue can be devastating. BMC Software's ASA solutions provide the availability, performance and recoverability to minimize unplanned and even planned outages."

A Fresh Approach to "True" Service Management

BMC Software introduced Service Assurance Center (SA Center) -- a comprehensive implementation of ASA that consists of equal parts methodology, software, and professional services, which optimize service delivery to the end user. The SA Center streamlines overall business operations by enabling IT organizations to know in real-time exactly how its customers are using its application services, how these services are performing and whether they are available for all user communities. The SA Center includes the following:

-- Methodology -- Provides continuous improvement that enables IT

organizations to drive defects from the company's business by

capturing knowledge and self-healing processes into SA Center

technology. -- Technology -- The foundation of SA Center implementations is built

upon the PATROL application management suite. PATROL products

coupled with SA Center templates give IT organizations flexible

options to customize their environments and to quickly adapt,

incorporate and populate any changes to support the service and

user oriented management perspectives. Because of SA Center's open

architecture, additional management tools can be integrated easily

into existing service management environments, thereby protecting

technology investments previously made. -- Delivery -- BMC Software Professional Services and Certified

Partners utilize an iterative implementation approach where

applications are instrumented and added to the SA Center one at a

time or in phased groups to achieve the fastest return on

investment. BMC Software Professional Services and Certified

Partners can deliver a turnkey solution for all critical business

applications or they can work with IT staff to make an

organization self-sufficient as quickly as possible. To support

these implementations, BMC Software has built a strategic SA

Center partner team with a highly select set of industry leading

systems integrators. These systems integrators work with BMC

Software to deliver the SA Center.

"With its Application Service Assurance strategy, BMC Software set a new standard for application service management as the first in the industry to recognize that IT organizations require the ability to proactively manage, not just monitor, the services that they are delivering in support of business applications," said Steve Foote, senior vice president at Hurwitz Group. "With their latest initiatives, BMC Software raises the bar for itself and the industry."