BMC Makes Configuration Management Easier
CMDB at its heart is a historical database that tracks how distributed systems within a federated network operate and change over time. Version 2.0 is now an easier sell to the enterprise customers it targets thanks to a simplified management interface and added support for storage devices and mainframes, said Eric Smith, client services director at Maryville Technologies, a BMC solution provider in St. Louis. “The previous version [of CMDB] tried to solve world hunger, and that made it a bit challenging,” Smith said, illustrating the complexity of operation of version 1.0.
Version 2.0, released May 15, leverages CMDB’s added support for storage devices and mainframes to bring more network data into the product, said Andrej Vlahcevic, senior solution marketing manager at BMC, Houston. Adding more data to CMDB actually simplifies the process of understanding how a federated network is operating and changing over time because the added data “takes away some of the blind spots and gives you better modeling,” Vlahcevic said.
Better modeling means faster results, and that can mean the difference between a customer wanting to take on a CMDB project or take a pass, Smith said.
Lori Cook, vice president of global services, channels and emerging markets at BMC, said CMDB drives services revenue for partners, and that policies set in place by BMC over a year ago to drive professional services referrals out into the vendor’s channel are still in place. “My [professional] services team now represents less than 4 percent of BMC’s total revenue,” she said.
CMDB 2.0 runs best side-by-side with business intelligence software from Business Objects, Vlahcevic said. Most BMC customers who will upgrade to version 2.0 already have a solution in place, he said. Pricing for the stand-alone edition of version 2.0 is not yet available, he said.