New CA Software Aids Cloud Deployment, Security

The vendor also debuted new cloud security software, an online marketplace for buying and selling cloud services and content, and a new release of the company's software for automating cloud system deployments.

Some of the new offerings incorporate technology from the cloud software developers CA Technologies has acquired in the last two years, including Oblicore, 4Base Technologies, 3Tera and ITKO, for a combined $2 billion.

"We're using our acquisitions very well to deliver coordinated solutions, not just individual products," said Andy Mann, vice president of enterprise and cloud solutions, at a press conference at the CA World conference in Las Vegas Monday.

The new CA Cloud 360 is a set of predictive analysis and simulation software and services that businesses can use to develop a strategy for migrating IT systems to cloud computing. The system helps organizations decide what applications are best moved to the cloud, Mann said, what capacity and security is needed, and what kind of service levels and reliability can be expected.

"CA Cloud 360 will deliver this essential intelligence for the cloud with a predictable methodology," Mann said.

The new Cloud Commons ecosystem includes the Cloud Commons Marketplace for buying and selling cloud services and content, and the Cloud Commons Developer Studio for planning, building and testing cloud-based software.

While the marketplace currently only has 25 items from CA Technologies and other vendors, Mann said the company will aggressively recruit third-party ISVs to join.

CA Technologies also unveiled additions to its CA CloudMinder line of identity and access management (IAM) cloud security software.

"For five years in a row security has been the number one thing that has stopped people from implementing and adopting [Software-as-a-Service]," said Michael Denning, general manager of security products at CA Technologies.

Added to the security product lineup is CA IdentityMinder-as-a-Service, offering a range of capabilities for managing user requests for access to on-premise and cloud applications, and tools for reporting and auditing user activity. The new CA FedMinder-as-a-Service provides a way for authorized users within one organization to securely access data, applications and cloud services within another. That lets businesses provide partners, suppliers and customers with access to the company's cloud services.

The CA CloudMinder line already includes CA AuthMinder-as-a-Service and CA RiskMinder-as-a-Service. The products are based on technology CA Technologies acquired in August 2010 when it bought Arcot Systems, a developer of authentication and fraud prevention software.

Also launched at CA World was a new release of the CA Automation Suite for Clouds, the vendor's platform for deploying cloud systems. Building on the original release that shipped in July, the new version 1.5 adds support for the VCE vBlock platform, CA AppLogic, Microsoft's Hyper-V, IBM LPAR, Oracle Solaris Zones and VMware View. It also offers enhanced cloud management, security and orchestration capabilities to simplify the management of multiple cloud systems through a single interface.

And CA Technologies debuted CA Executive Insight, a mobile dashboard application that provides executives with information about IT system performance.

"This end-to-end visibility is becoming increasingly critical as customers embrace composite applications and cloud solutions," said Mike Sargent, general manager of CA Technologies' service assurance customer solutions unit. The new product will help IT meet the needs of business users. Noting the pressure IT departments are under today, Sargent said: "Doing more with less is not sustainable."