Opsware Sings New Rendition Of Network Automation

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based software vendor last week introduced Opsware Network Automation System (NAS) 4.0, a crafty combination of its Server Automation System and Rendition's TrueControl product, said Eric Johnson, vice president of engineering at Opsware. Indeed, while acquisitions can sometimes lead to the demise of the acquired vendor's product line, Rendition partners who braced themselves for the worst have been pleasantly surprised by Opsware's improvement of TrueControl in NAS 4.0.

With TrueControl's ability to automate the configuration management of network devices from multiple vendors, NAS 4.0 has extended Opsware's strength in server management automation further out into the network. In doing so, NAS 4.0 also provides a central interface to create and automate workflows across multiple systems, be they servers, network devices or security products, Johnson said.

"Today, people have processes they've implemented through change management systems, but there's no feedback loop, no accountability, no ability to tie what's happening to the original plan," he said. "We try to enforce that the approval process is being followed. We create a feedback loop and do automation to make sure changes take place that were planned originally." Increased accountability in the realm of change management means a tighter handshake between compliance officers and IT personnel "to make sure that checks and balances are followed," Johnson said. With NAS 4.0, Opsware also opens a wider field for its resellers to target because the product plays to the midmarket, whereas Opsware's previous server-centric products were pretty much high-end tools, said Paul Babicki, owner of Tabula Rosa Systems, a VAR in Pennington, N.J.

"I've worked with the Tivolis and Marimbas and many other automation distribution tools that promised to push the technology to the server and to the desktop but never did in a cost-effective, nonarcane manner. But with [NAS 4.0], the return on investment is easy to determine from an analysis side and a common-sense side," Babicki said.

To seize the wider market opportunity of NAS 4.0, Opsware is looking to add small to midsize VARs that specialize in change management, Johnson said.