WebServices dot org

CA announced it has joined a working group that is creating a new interoperability specification that will ultimately enable customers to federate and access information from complex, multi-vendor IT infrastructures. Other founding members include BMC Software, Fujitsu, HP and IBM.

The working group will develop an open, industry-wide specification for sharing information between Configuration Management Databases (CMDBs) and other data repositories. This specification will be submitted to an industry standards organization later this year. As a multi-vendor specification, it will provide companies with greater choice and flexibility in adding new hardware, applications, and middleware. “CMDBs have become one of central elements of enterprise IT management, so a standards-based approach to this critical functionality is necessary and valuable,” said Helge Scheil, chief architect at CA’s Business Service Optimization business unit.

An industry standard for federating and accessing IT information will integrate communication between CMDBs, which hold all details related to the components of an IT infrastructure, including information about servers, storage devices, networks, middleware, applications and data. With a standard way for vendors and tools to share and access configuration data, organizations can use their CMDBs to create a more complete and accurate view of IT information spread out across multiple data sources. This makes it easier to keep track of changes to an IT environment, such as when the last time an application was updated or if there have been changes made to critical configuration information. It also helps organizations better understand the impact of changes they make to the IT environment.

For more information on CA, visit www.ca.com .