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iQuate and Aspera Announce Partnership

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This is an interesting alliance between iQuate and Aspera.

Irish tool vendor iQuate are making good inroads with their agentless discovery technology.

German tool vendor Aspera have über-sophisticated license management technology but no dedicated inventory solution.

Aspera must also be pleased with iQuate’s Oracle certification, since it effectively gives Aspera Oracle certification by proxy, a very useful utility in their arsenal of features when selling to the worlds largest enterprise customers (See other accredited Oracle partners here).

“We have already worked together at the request of a shared multi-national customer, who immediately understood how both products complement each other. This announcement moves that relationship to a new level, as it enables Aspera’s SmartTrack to be automatically populated with complex inventory data for all our customers.” Pat Durkin, CEO iQuate.

Martin Thompson

Martin is an independent software industry analyst, SAM consultant and founder of The ITAM Review and The ITSM Review. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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ITAM Industry News Round-Up

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Julie Larson-Green, Corporate Vice President, Windows Experience

A collection of links, news and updates from the ITAM Industry:

“Today, at the D9 Conference, we demonstrated the next generation of Windows, internally code-named “Windows 8,” for the first time. Windows 8 is a reimagining of Windows, from the chip to the interface. A Windows 8-based PC is really a new kind of device, one that scales from touch-only small screens through to large screens, with or without a keyboard and mouse.”

Julie Larson-Green, Corporate Vice President, Windows Experience

Video Preview Windows 8:


 

If you have some news or interesting links to share for the monthly Round-Up please contact me. I am aim to publish a round-up in the first week of every month.

View previous round-ups.

Martin Thompson

Martin is an independent software industry analyst, SAM consultant and founder of The ITAM Review and The ITSM Review. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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Inventory & Discovery Tools Group Test: The Results

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The results of the Inventory and Discovery Tools Group Test are now live.

The vendors featured in this review are BDNA, FrontRange Solutions, HP, iQuate, Nexthink, Numara Software and ServiceNow.

Please visit this page to view the results.

In summary,

  • The ITAM Review has flipped it’s business model, all information is free to access without registration
  • Inventory and Discovery are fundamental building blocks of ITAM – Inventory should not be viewed as a commodity item – it is important to get it right
  • There is some great technology out there – Innovation in this sector of the market is alive and well.
  • Understand the primary market focus for each vendor so you understand their strategy

Best in Class

  • Best in Class for Mid-Market Size Companies: Numara FootPrints Inventory Manager and Compliance Manager
  • Best in Class for Enterprise Size Companies: ServiceNow Discovery
  • Best in Class – All Tools – Numara FootPrints Inventory Manager and Compliance Manager

Please visit this page to view the results.

Thank you to all the vendors for participating in this process.

Video Overview ~ 25 Mins

Inventory & Discovery Tools Group Test [The ITAM Review]

Martin Thompson

Martin is an independent software industry analyst, SAM consultant and founder of The ITAM Review and The ITSM Review. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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Video: How to Run Oracle on VMware

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Cowardly Lion; Solve Fear, Solve the Problem

In this informative session Jason Keogh from iQuate and Will Monin from VMware explore how to optimize Oracle licensing within VMware environments.

Topics:

  • How Oracle is licensed?
  • Processors, Cores and Core Factors
  • Hard vs. Soft Partitioning
  • VMotion
  • Virtualization Growth and Trends
  • Why virtualizing Oracle is slower than other Vendors
  • VMware’s Perspective – Solve fear, Solve the Problem
  • Maximizing Value  - Using Working Examples
  • Where VMware customers are going

Questions Covered During the Call

  • Q. Do cold DR servers need to be licensed?
  • Q. How do you restrict Oracle running in a Virtual environment to a certain blade or cluster?
  • Q. Should we set up a separate dedicated Oracle VMware cluster?
  • Q. Can iQuate tell when a certain DB option was installed (e.g. if core factors changed over time)
  • Q. Is a dedicated Oracle VM cluster accepted by Oracle?

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Martin Thompson

Martin is an independent software industry analyst, SAM consultant and founder of The ITAM Review and The ITSM Review. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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Review: Marcus Evans SAM Conference [Berlin, Germany]

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This is a guest post by Jason Keogh of iQuate. If you want to guest post on this blog please contact us.

I’m delighted to say that I’ve been asked to become a regular contributor  to the ITAM Review as a guest blogger.

This is the first, of hopefully many blog pieces to come. During 2012 I’ll be attending and speaking at, at least 8 ITAM/SAM conferences from around the world. I’ve recently returned from my first conference of the year, in Berlin…

Berlin – exciting, diverse, soaked in history and culture and renowned for nightlife beyond compare. Berlin could never be boring… could it?

Last week Marcus Evans hosted the 7th Annual Pan-European conference on Software Asset & License Management in Berlin.

There were 15 sessions during the 2 days, and I hate to say it, but the majority were actually quite poor. It seemed that many of the speakers had never presented before. Several had issues with fluency in English and as many were from similar roles,  quite a few of the presentations were similar in content. Berlin, at least for those 2 days, was pretty boring!

It wasn’t all bad news though – there were some notable highlights, and some useful tips to be had.

Mette Andreassen from DSV in Denmark had a very good presentation, which focused on the importance of networking with peers and colleagues for successful SAM. Mette was a high energy presenter – likely from the caffeine intake she has if she actually practices what she preaches and has coffee, according to her summary:

  • With your management to ensure continued buy in
  • With Operations to ensure mutual understanding
  • With global and local technicians to make them understand their importance
  • With procurement managers to ensure alignment on investments
  • With Vendor Key Account Managers to get good pricing
  • With experts for guidance and advice
  • With your peers to learn from their experiences

That’s a lot of coffee – it’s also a good example of the number of stakeholders that those who have a responsibility for  license management need to interact with. In my experience, SAM projects often run into difficulties in organizations where positive relationships are not maintained with one or more of these stakeholders. Certain individuals start becoming part of the problem, rather than part of the solution as they don’t understand the wider goals of certain requirements and activities.

As well as showcasing some excellent new cars from Mercedes, Thomas Plum of Daimler included some thought provoking clauses he suggests companies should negotiate into contracts with major vendors during procurement. If you don’t have the buying power of a Daimler, some of these may be tricky to achieve – but it’s always worth asking:

  •  Invoice to be accepted as license evidence
  •  Immediate re-use right after hardware changes (once un-installed, can be re-installed without delay or penalty)
  • Upgrade and downgrade rights
  • Pre-installation rights
  • Cross/Multi-language rights

Jason Keogh, iQuate

In my ultimately personal  opinion, perhaps 25%  of the presentations were interesting. However others with fewer SAM-induced battle scars than I, may disagree.  If attending a conference can give you just 1 or 2 little takeaways that make you or your function more efficient, it really is worth the time and effort to go.  After all, staying in your office all the time doesn’t provide much  insight or learning from the experience of others.

For me, one of the most interesting aspects of this conference were the attendees. They really knew their stuff,  conversations raised interesting opinions and challenges. I personally got value from my time at the event – but it could have been so much better…

During my attendance at conferences throughout this year, I’ll be looking for new and interesting thinking. Hopefully for those conferences where I’m presenting, I’ll be bringing some new and interesting thinking. I think the new reality that has been caused by the rise of technologies such as cloud, “utility” servers and virtual desktops bring interesting new challenges and requirements to our industry. I look forward to facing those challenges, and hopefully, coming up with innovative solutions to some of the problems ahead.

This is a guest post by Jason Keogh of iQuate. If you want to guest post on this blog please contact us.

Jason Keogh

Jason is the CTO and founder of iQuate. Jason is responsible for iQuate’s product vision and is well regarded as an expert in the spheres of IT discovery, inventory and SAM. Jason speaks at several industry conferences each year. In 2012 Jason joined the ISO/IEC 19770 working group with a goal of ensuring its work reflects, and is relevant to, enterprise cloud based computing.

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Why SAM Needs to Focus on Cloud

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"Migrating expensive, server software to shared services and cloud based infrastructure without a proper understanding of the risks involved will cost enterprises millions of dollars."

Microsoft WPC (Worldwide Partner Conference) was held in July. I was delighted to be asked to speak at it.

The session was entitled “Cloudy, with a chance of Virtualization” – and the audience were Microsoft partners from around the world.

The key drift of my presentation was this: If you understand Cloud computing, and the impact it has on software licensing, you can offer services to large enterprises and make lots of money.

Why are Enterprises going to pay lots of money for services in these areas? Because a proper understanding of the risks and costs involved in moving expensive, data center/server software into shared services and cloud based infrastructure will save large enterprises millions of dollars, while reducing risk. If you don’t agree strongly with that sentence, let me invert it for you: migrating expensive, server software to shared services and cloud based infrastructure without a proper understanding of the risks involved will cost enterprises millions of dollars. Do you agree now?

If you are an ITAM or SAM professional (internal to the enterprise, or an external consultant), and you want to provide significant value to your employer/customers – you need to focus on this area.

Focus on the right cloud!

SAM and ITAM projects and especially discovery technologies have traditionally focused on desktop software. In my opinion, this was a mistake. Large enterprises spend 70% of their software budget in the datacenter, not on “desktop” software, BYOD or mobile computing. As we move forward, I suggest that SAM and ITAM practitioners need to ensure they understand “Cloud” – and focus most of their attention appropriately. There are three main types of cloud:

  1. SaaS – Software as a Service
  2. PaaS – Platform as a Service
  3. IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service

Currently, most hype/focus is on SaaS – this is the biggest sector, worth over USD $12bn in 2011. Analyst predictions see this reaching $22bn by 2015. SaaS poster boys include Salesforce.com and Office365. For the enterprise, understanding and controlling SaaS is important, but relatively simple. The SaaS providers bill monthly and typically provide excellent visibility and billing breakdowns. You need to ensure visibility here, and that your systems and processes can cope with monitoring SaaS spend, but you don’t need to worry, the data you need to understand should be easily to hand.

PaaS is, at the moment, relatively uninteresting to the enterprise. Azure and Cloudbees are examples of PaaS. The PaaS market was worth USD $0.5bn in 2011, by 2015 this will have grown to $1.7bn, a minnow next to the other cloud types. PaaS is mainly used by SaaS companies as a platform for their offerings and to interconnect data.

IaaS is where your focus as an enterprise SAM practitioner needs to be. The phrases “Internal Cloud”, “External Cloud” and “Hybrid Cloud” typically refer to IaaS clouds. Moving from physical servers to an internal, shared services cloud of VM’s is what IaaS is all about. Migrating from internal VM’s to externally hosted VM’s in Amazon AWS or Rackspace is also IaaS. IaaS was only worth USD $4.2bn in 2011. This is set to grow massively, to $19.6bn by 2015 – IaaS is the game changer for enterprise/corporate IT.

Make sure you know what you need to know

Data center transformation and cloud migration projects need involvement from IT Asset Management and Software Asset Management functions before, during and after project implementation.

Before: If your CIO, Enterprise Architects or IT organization is even thinking about considering a transformation or migration – you need to understand what you have in place right now, so that you can analyze what systems to potentially migrate. This means you need to know what servers are running which databases, application servers, web servers, email systems, etc. You need to know the details of their physical and virtual hardware configuration, clustering, database and app server editions, options, interconnectivity, etc.

Once you understand all of that, you can begin to consider how to structure/dedicate different server farms to different technologies to leverage their licensing as it relates to hardware measurement (PVU/Processor/Core licensing), failover and clustering. You can then model the cost implications of a transformation or migration.

If you don’t have the details you require, you can’t understand the full costs or benefits involved…

During: Playing “shuffle” with your mission critical systems is something best done with careful planning and complete visibility. Knowing what’s where and how it’s interconnected means you can minimize risk during this stressful process.

If you don’t have this visibility during migration, something surprising is bound to happen. Surprises are never pleasant during a major systems move!

After: Once the dust has settled and your systems are now operating in their new, virtual reality, you need to maintain vigilance. The virtual servers which systems are running on are typically more fluid. You need to continually be aware of what is running where so that you can ensure the right workloads (software!) is running on the right clusters/farms (hardware!).

Deploying a VM running (for example) Oracle products onto a VM cluster not licensed for those products can be a very expensive mistake if not prevented (or identified and corrected quickly). At the same time, when properly managed, cloud based systems can massively reduce the cost of the software deployed on them. Post migration, you can run a more flexible, often faster, more highly redundant environment with less cost – IF you can manage and maintain visibility. Without that visibility the risk of negative impact from a vendor audit is massively increased.

Conclusion

If you have clear visibility of your software and hardware assets and can maintain visibility of physical and virtual hardware as data center transformation and cloud migration projects re-shape the IT landscape – you can leverage the power of IaaS infrastructure and reduce your overall costs.

Whether you’re are an external or internal provider of expertise in this area, understanding where to focus in “Cloud computing” and how to leverage software licensing and migration scenarios can bring you, and your employer/customer significant benefits.

Jason Keogh

Jason is the CTO and founder of iQuate. Jason is responsible for iQuate’s product vision and is well regarded as an expert in the spheres of IT discovery, inventory and SAM. Jason speaks at several industry conferences each year. In 2012 Jason joined the ISO/IEC 19770 working group with a goal of ensuring its work reflects, and is relevant to, enterprise cloud based computing.

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EVENT: IT Cost Optimization in an era of Virtualization [London, 12th March]

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BCS London offices are two minutes walk from Covent Garden

BCS London offices are two minutes walk from Covent Garden

WHAT

IT Cost Optimization in an era of Virtualization:

“Learn about new technologies and practices that will enable you to achieve IT cost optimization and lower the total cost of ownership of your server estate.

If it is part of your remit to reduce costs, reduce non-compliance risk, or achieve IT optimization or transformation, this conference will help you reach those goals in 2013. You will also gain a chance to network with your peers and gain insight into which strategies and technology has helped organizations realize the full potential of virtualization.”

WHERE

BCS London Office, First Floor, The Davidson Building, 5 Southampton Street, London, WC2E 7HA Map

WHEN

Tuesday 12th March 2013 9am – 5pm SORRY EVENT POSTPONED

WHO

  • Peter Barnes, VMware
  • David Phillips, SAMLeaders
  • Jason Keogh, iQuate

BOOKING

Learn More and Book SORRY EVENT POSTPONED

Two special offers for ITAM Review readers:

  • Extended Early Bird Discount (50%)
  • Also quote  ‘ITAMReview‘ as your promotional code to be entered into a draw for a Samsung 10 tablet (Limited to ITAM Review readers only).

For booking / discount enquiries please email alma@iquate.com

See you there!

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Martin Thompson

Martin is an independent software industry analyst, SAM consultant and founder of The ITAM Review and The ITSM Review. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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iQuate iQSonar for Inventory and Discovery

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This independent review is part of our Inventory and Discovery Tool Review.

Executive Summary

Elevator pitch Powerful agentless discovery for large and complex IT environments.
Strengths
  • Dynamic User Interface (UI). Everything is interactive and easy to use, and the information is accessible and easy to digest.
  • Unique product adapters
  • Very detailed hardware information
  • Perfect for the datacentre environment
Weaknesses
  • Does not address cloud based services or subscriptions
  • IQSonar does not do software usage metering in desktop environments
Primary Market Focus
  • Size: Large enterprise environments
  • Use: Collecting complex server data for Datacentre Licensing
  • Environment: Servers and datacentres

Commercial Summary

Vendor iQuate
Product iQSonar
Version Reviewed Version 3
Date of version release June 2014
Year founded 2002
Customers <100
Pricing structure A number of licensing models are available including: Perpetual, Subscription, and Project Licence.Licensing is based on three dimensions: Vendor/Technology coverage (i.e. Oracle, IBM, Microsoft), estate size, and license duration requirement. Price list not disclosed.
Competitive Differentiators
  • Unique product adapters for complex license vendors such as Microsoft, IBM, and Oracle
  • iQDataHub provides the ability to perform trend analysis with third-party tools

Independent Review

iQuate iQSonar

iQSonar is a sophisticated, easy to use inventory and discovery tool, which possesses a number of unique features for a tool of its kind, such as the unique product adapters and third-party integration.

In The ITAM Review’s opinion, iQSonar has a dynamic UI, which displays an array of useful and relevant information to the end user, such as install base, and hardware information. In addition, everything appears to be interactive and easily customizable such that you can change the experience you receive based on the information you need. Furthermore, the UI doesn’t provide you with an overload of information, instead displaying information such that it can be easily read and understood.

In our view, another impressive feature of iQSonar is its unique product adapters for Microsoft, IBM and Oracle. Product adapters are built in capabilities for managing complex software publishers. Software Asset Management (SAM) tools usual provide some sort of specialist feature for Oracle or SAP licensing, but they don’t often provide the same sort of sophisticated management capabilities for three of the major software vendors. We believe that this feature will certainly help customers better manage their complex licenses to ensure compliancy and also license optimization.

Integration possibilities with other third-party tools are a further positive aspect of the iQSonar product in our opinion. With iQDataHub, users are able to take snapshots of their inventory data over time, providing the capability to perform trend analysis in third-party tools. This allows customers to integrate existing ITAM tools with the iQSonar product, We feel that this is a great selling point for iQSonar as it means users don’t have to endure the hassle of moving to an ITAM solution, they can simply integrate iQSonar into their existing IT infrastructure. It also allows customers to utilize two different data sets, which we believe will improve the users experience in regards to accuracy and analysis purposes.

Another area that we really liked within this tool is how detailed the hardware reporting is. The amount of hardware information you receive is extremely comprehensive, which we believe will no doubt help with any ITAM and Hardware Asset Management (HAM) project or program. Generally, there are large savings to be made in the datacentre and sever environment, there are also savings to be made in the hardware environment. This is where we feel iQSonar could help consolidate your spending and also help you to reduce spending on hardware.

However, despite the number of impressive features in the iQSonar product, we do feel that it is lacking any form of cloud monitoring, an increasing area of spend and risk in the datacentre. With a lot of software and licensing models moving towards a cloud-based structure, we think that some form of cloud inventory solution is needed within the tool to help assist with managing emerging cloud environments such as cloud subscriptions or pay per use cloud computing power.

Overall, we believe that iQSonar is a very sophisticated tool for the datacentre and server environment. iQSonar can handle desktop inventory but does not offer software usage metering in desktop environments. However, as iQuate state that it works with other vendors to ensure smooth integration with third-party tools, there is likely the option to use the product in conjunction with a more sophisticated desktop tool. It would also compliment systems management tools such as Microsoft SCCM.

General Inventory

Inventory of hardware devices in a network is typically based on either a hostname and/or MAC address. Since both these values can be modified within the product, they are not sufficiently adequate for long-term identification (or comparison) purposes and can lead to duplicate records for a single asset. These issues have forced iQuate to provide something different with respects to inventory records to combat the hurdles other solutions fall at.

iQuate states that iQSonar takes a unique approach to inventory and discovery. Each supported platform, application, or technology is assessed and specific, non-changing attributes are identified. iQuate continue to state that using these attributes and a proprietary ranking algorithm allows iQSonar to generate a “unique identifier” to enable consistent identification of assets regardless of configuration changes.

Furthermore, iQuate states that iQSonar includes the iQDataHub inventory feature. The iQDataHub is in essence a ‘data warehouse’ that provides an open database for end users and partners to view data and associated API (application program interface) information. iQuate further states that its customers can then manipulate this data and also feed in data from other (possibly already existing within the environment) third-party solutions.

iQDataHub also provides a central repository of software asset related data, allowing the tool to scan data that can be augmented with data from other sources. Data from multiple iQSonar engines, and from different time periods, can be populated in a single location. In addition, it supports cleansing and categorization of scanned data, which in our opinion makes it more useful and easier to work with. As mentioned previously, the iQDataHub allows users to use information from not only iQSonar, but also from other SAM tools. What this effectively means is that the data from the iQSonar tool, and the data from existing third-party solutions can be populated together and stored in a single, central repository for data analysis.

Discovery

From a discovery aspect, iQSonar states that it uses 100% agentless technology. Once installed on a central server, no additional software is needed before, or installed during, the scanning process. This means that it can automatically detect technology to deliver a complete view of IT inventory, without the need for a list of all assets to be scanned in advance. We feel that using agentless technology is a benefit to the tool, as there can often be flaws with agents, such as users removing them from their machines!

The iQSonar solution is deployed within the organisations network and stores all of the data gathered in a central repository. We believe this to be impressive considering the fact that the information is coming from agentless technology. Having a centralised store for all of the data in our view is an important factor when considering an inventory and discovery tool. You need information to be in one place, not scattered around various databases within the network.

With its agentless technology, iQuate has developed an intelligent tool that can go out and target specific data that the user wants updating in real-time. The user can point the tool to a certain area of the network, and iQSonar will seek out and provide them with updated data that they can they turn into reports for analysis. Whilst iQSonar is off gathering the information, the user interface’s performance isn’t impacted in anyway, allowing the user to continue to use the tool whilst the data is being populated, which we feel that is extremely important for a busy ITAM professional who doesn’t want to wait around for data scans to complete.

Reporting

iQuate states that iQSonar’s data exploration tool, iQExplore, enables searching and filtering, and extensive analysis across a huge range of attributes delivering results visually in the form of interactive graphs and detailed table reports. From what we have seen the reports appear to be comprehensive and easy to populate, and they can be customized to provide the user with the specific data that they require. iQSonar is no different to other tools in that the report can then be exported into various file formats for analysis and general future use.

In Summary

We believe that iQSonar is a strong offering for any organizations looking for the detailed inventory required to manage complex licensing in the datacentre environment.

In their own words

“iQSonar is the world’s leading IT asset management discovery and inventory solution which can deliver even richer capabilities to your business. It can provide you with:

• Rich business intelligence and analysis

• Advanced data aggregation and augmentation

• Seamless interoperability with your existing solutions

iQSonar is a powerful discovery platform built to handle highly complex infrastructures. Deployed agentlessly across the largest and most challenging of networks with multiple platforms, protocols, devices and applications, it delivers unrivalled visibility of all physical, clustered and cloud-based assets, thanks to its extensive technical breadth and depth.

iQSonar includes the iQDataHub data warehouse, allowing iQSonar scan data to be augmented with data from other sources to provide a rich central repository of SAM related data. Data from multiple iQSonar engines, and from different time periods, can be aggregated in a single location. iQDataHub also supports sophisticated cleansing and categorisation of scanned data, making it even more useful and easier to work with.

As physical, virtual and cloud-based environments grow ever more complex and enterprise-wide demands for high quality business information increase, iQuate understands how crucial it is to have accurate IT inventory. By improving inventory accuracy, we enhance its value for everyone who uses it to make decisions, to optimize service delivery and to drive business performance. iQSonar’s innovative technology is designed to work with other IT management processes and tools, creating a single, sharable and verified IT inventory that is more accurate and useful than ever before.”

Screenshots

Screen Shot 2014-12-11 at 11.39.08 Screen Shot 2014-12-11 at 11.40.06 Screen Shot 2014-12-11 at 11.40.31 Screen Shot 2014-12-11 at 11.40.50

Disclaimer, Scope and Limitations

The information contained in this review is based on sources and information believed to be accurate as of the time it was created. Therefore, the completeness and current accuracy of the information provided cannot be guaranteed. Readers should therefore use the contents of this review as a general guideline, and not as the ultimate source of truth.

Similarly, this review is not based on rigorous and exhaustive technical study. The ITAM Review recommends that readers complete a thorough live evaluation before investing in technology.

This is a paid review, that is, the vendors included in this review paid to participate in exchange for all results and analysis being published free of charge, without registration.

For further information, please read our Disclosure page.

David Foxen

David Foxen, aka #SAMBeast, is a SAM expert and enthusiast. He has previously worked as a Global SAM Manager for a large design and architecture firm, a world-wide bank, global retailer and local government. He has successfully implemented SAM in a number of different environments and has implemented a number of SAM tools. David is a massive ITAM geek, so uses any opportunity to talk about the subject to who-ever will listen. He previously worked for Enterprise Opinions as ITAM Director, but enjoyed writing and being part of the company and community so much that he is now a regular contributor!

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The post iQuate iQSonar for Inventory and Discovery appeared first on The ITAM Review.


Podcast Episode 8: The Oracle Negotiation Grey Zone

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Ahead of our Oracle Seminar in New York later this month Martin Thompson talks with guests about the grey zone of Oracle negotiation, cloud options with Oracle and copyright principles and standing up against unreasonable claims

View all our podcasts on SoundCloud or iTunes.

 

Guests

Ania Levy from Levy LeGette

Craig Guarente from Palisade Compliance

Doug Ehrenreich from iQuate

John Emmitt from Flexera Software

James Gabriel from Snow Software

Show Notes

Positive recommendations for Oracle

Open letter to Larry Ellison and the Oracle board 

Rebecca Beach

Rebecca is the Marketing & Community Manager for both The ITSM Review and The ITAM Review. With a background in ITSM Rebecca's aim is to continue to engage and grow both communities and encourage more fledgling ITSM/ITAM writers to contribute their insight and experiences for the benefit of their fellow readers. If you have something you would like to share then please email rebecca.beach@itassetmanagement.net

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The post Podcast Episode 8: The Oracle Negotiation Grey Zone appeared first on The ITAM Review.

Alternatives to Oracle database

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It has been suggested that Oracle derives 50% of Oracle database revenue in the UK from audit activity and the Campaign for Clear Licensing has reported that “92% of customers say that Oracle does not clearly communicate licensing changes”.

Maybe you’ve grown bored of propping up Oracle’s flagging database business? maybe you are irritated by the continual threat of audit? Maybe it’s time to consider alternatives?

Viable Alternatives

I recently met with James Mills of TmaxSoft who sell Tibero, an alternative to Oracle database.

Tibero don’t audit customers, have a straightforward licensing program with no boobytraps, and is said to cost 50% cheaper than Oracle. So, technology challenges aside (discussed below), what a refreshing alternative.

Those seeking alternatives might also like to take a look at these lists:

Alternatives to traditional relational databases might also be considered. Patrick McFadin of Apache Cassandra at DataStax said:

Patrick McFadin of Apache Cassandra at DataStax

Patrick McFadin of Apache Cassandra at DataStax

“There are a few different options. If you want to stick with similar, relational database technologies then the alternatives are Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL or PostgreSQL.

If you want to look at distributed storage and processing, then there are new technology options under the banner of NoSQL – this is a family of databases that are designed to work in different, workload-specific, ways. They come from problems faced by the likes of Google and Facebook – these companies developed the technologies to handle their data management issues, then open sourced the technologies.

Apache Cassandra is a good example – it was originally developed at Facebook, then became part of the Apache Software Foundation. Cassandra is now used by companies including Netflix, eBay and SONY to power their online business and massive scaling needs. Cassandra has tended to be used by web companies that need an always-on, highly scaling database. In some cases even across multiple data centers.

Cassandra can and has been used to replace Oracle DB instances in retail, finance / banking and telco services.

From a licensing perspective, open source technologies come in at around ten percent of the cost of a comparable Oracle license. This is a significant TCO advantage when looking at the speed and size of data needed to be competitive.”

Technology Challenges “Yes, but Oracle owns the stack”

Part of Oracle’s enduring stickiness is it’s ownership of the stack of technology around the database. Can we rip out Oracle and replace it with something else? or shall we keep taking the abuse and grin and bear it? This is a point Oracle and other software dinosaurs will labour during pitches and negotiations, pouring fresh ladles of FUD on alternatives.

From an ITAM and procurement viewpoint, there are three major technology and political hurdles to address:

  1. Convincing Oracle DBA’s that Oracle is not the only fruit and there is life, technology and career advancement beyond their collection Oracle qualifications.
  2. Leaning upon ISV’s, hardware manufacturers and cloud infrastructure supplliers to ensure the stack required to deliver your business applications has viable alternatives from progressive technology partners
  3. Address the fear of change (“We’ve always used Oracle database”, “We’ve never heard of this other company”, “will it work” and so on) – Again, something Oracle account managers will focus on.

Building the Business Case and Making the Transition

Shane McDermott, iQuate

Shane McDermott, iQuate

IT Asset Management professionals can play an instrumental role in finding alternatives and scoping out the transition (and shedding a great deal of risk, headaches and anguish from an aggressive vendor in the process).

Shane McDermott of iQuate offers the following advice when organisations are considering migrating from Oracle:

“At a high level, there are three stages to making the transition:

1. Assessment

  • Inventory – What is the Oracle deployment?
  • Dependencies – what databases are supporting what apps and what infrastructure is it underpinning?
  • Candidates – Which DBs are configured to possibly suit transfer to an alternative technology – e.g. MSQL. This requires some in depth knowledge of the database config, understanding of Oracle technical dependencies. Some candidates will move easily, others will need rework/engineering/migration plans.
  • Identification – identify the new target infrastructure and associated costs (there may be several of these identified and profiled for different use cases)
  • Plan – organisational dependencies, suppliers, quotes, timelines, contracts etc.

 2. Execution

  • Some can be migrated automatically, others not. Partner/supplier selection to execute and manage migration (we have some partners in this space)

3. Monitoring

  • Verify business case objectives achieved, realise savings, go back and reiterate.”

Your View?

Have you a success story from moving from Oracle to share? What alternatives would you recommend? Please leave a comment below or contact me using the details below. Thanks, Martin

Martin Thompson

Martin is owner and founder of the The ITAM Review, The ITSM Review and Tools Advisor Martin is also founder and Chair, Campaign for Clear Licensing. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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ITAM Tools Day; Why is it needed?

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ITAM_TOOLSDAY_NY_MAYWe’re back!

Due to the unfortunate timing of ‘Storm Juno’ that struck on our last visit to New York, we are returning on May 12th to host our FREE to attend ITAM Tools Day Event. This is a unique opportunity for professionals to get together and see the leading ITAM tool vendors present their solutions all under one roof.

ITAM Tools

There are a number of ITAM tools now available on the market. The evolution of ITAM tools over the past 10 years has been dramatic, and they continue to become more sophisticated and dynamic. Eight of the leading ITAM tool vendors will be at our event and six of them will be showcasing their solutions and offering advice about managing software assets. The vendors attending are:

Tools are an integral part of any SAM program. Realistically, a SAM program will not be successful without a sophisticated SAM tool in place to assist with processes, licensing and management of software assets. It is no longer realistic to manage software licenses, warranty information and software assets via spread sheets, so a SAM tool is a vital investment for any organisation. If you are still using spread sheets to manage your software licenses, then this event is an absolute must for you and your organisation.

Finding the right solution

With so many offerings available, how do you know which solution is the best option for your organisation? It may be the case that you already have a solution in place, but you are not happy with the tool or the vendor. The ITAM Tools Day event is the ideal opportunity for you to look at the best ITAM solutions currently on the market, and compare them all there and then on the day.

We have come up with 6 critical aspects that in our opinion, are essential points for consideration when selecting your tool: Visibility, Identification, Risk, Efficiency, Agility and Continual Service Improvement. We have asked the tool vendors presenting to address how their tool covers off each point and delegates will have the opportunity to rate them against this criteria.

It is worth noting that there is no such thing as a ‘silver bullet’ tool. No solution can do everything you need without the right people and processes in place. Whilst a tool is vitally important, so are the people who use the tool, as well as the processes put in place for managing your software assets and licenses. When you come to this event, and you talk to the vendors attending, it is important to ask yourself if the solution would fit into your environment? Do you have the personnel in place to manage the SAM tool? Do you have the processes in place to fully utilise your investment in a SAM tool? And most importantly of all, do you have the backing of senior managers?

Networking and Support 

The ITAM Tools Day is also a great opportunity for you to speak to your existing vendor face to face. You will have the chance to speak to them about any issues you’re currently having, or to ask them about certain features or future releases of their product. The event will provide a more personal experience to picking a SAM tool, rather than sales orientated approach.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to speak to a wider support network in the form of their peers. They will be able to speak to other people with the same ITAM tool to compare notes, get tips on how they perform certain actions or how they have used the tool to help with certain situations. This support is invaluable to ITAM professionals as it provides a passing on of knowledge and experience that you can’t get from books or online.

Regardless of whether or not you have a SAM tool currently implemented, attending this event will provide you with a unique insight to the different solutions on offer, without having to arrange sales phone calls, meetings and demos. You will be able to see all of the solutions and make quick, informative decisions about the solution and whether or not it meets their organisations requirements.

Conclusion

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Empire State Building, New York

So why don’t you join us for our first US ITAM Tools Day event? It’s completely free to attend and promises to be a very informative and interesting day for ITAM and SAM professionals. You can find out more about the event and a list of vendors attending here.

To book your place go to; www.itassetmanagement.net/events/now. Places are booking up fast, so make sure you secure your place today!

 

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David Foxen

David Foxen, aka #SAMBeast, is a SAM expert and enthusiast. He has previously worked as a Global SAM Manager for a large design and architecture firm, a world-wide bank, global retailer and local government. He has successfully implemented SAM in a number of different environments and has implemented a number of SAM tools. David is a massive ITAM geek, so uses any opportunity to talk about the subject to who-ever will listen. He previously worked for Enterprise Opinions as ITAM Director, but enjoyed writing and being part of the company and community so much that he is now a regular contributor!

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Tools Day Review: Service desk integration and cloud readiness cited as key differentiators

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On the 20th November 2015, The ITAM Review hosted our second ITAM Tools Day event which was hosted at Woburn House, Tavistock Square, London.

The Tools Day was attended by end users, expert speakers, and vendor sponsors including:

The Event

Martin Thompson kicked off the event with his presentation – What to look for in a SAM Tool & Key Differentiators.

Shortly after, it was time for Vendor presentations. The Vendors were allocated a 25 minute slot to Showcase their Tools to the delegates and share their experiences in the Market. Vendors also discussed the six suggested criteria that should be considered when selecting a SAM tool; Visibility, Identification, Risk, Efficiency, Agility and CSI :

IMG_0755

Thorsten Besse, Flexera

Andy Parker, LANDESK

Andy Parker, LANDESK

Mark Lilywhite, Snow Software

Mark Lilywhite, Snow Software

Following Mark's Presentation we were joined by Stanislav Pavlin from Vodafone Group delivering his presentation; SAM Tools - A Quest for the Silver Bullet.

Following Mark’s Presentation we were joined by Stanislav Pavlin from Vodafone Group delivering his presentation; SAM Tools – A Quest for the Silver Bullet.

John Mariani, iQuate

John Mariani, iQuate

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Barry Johnson, Brainware Group

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James Johnson, Matrix42

Presentations

You can view all of the slides from the presentations here.

“It was great to see our sponsors address what we consider are the key requirements of modern ITAM tools. In particular it is clear that empowering the service desk and helping organisations prepare for cloud migrations are key differentiators. Finally, congratulations to Mark Lillywhite of Snow Software for delivering the best presentation of the day, as voted for by delegates.” Martin Thompson, The ITAM Review.

Delegate Feedback

Feedback from a Tools Day delegate:

“The ITAM Review and the events they hold are the perfect way to develop knowledge within the IT Asset Management space. From a great location in central London, complete with lunch catered for, comes events where insight, trends and demonstrations flow, empowering end users to go back to their respective organisations with a fresh outlook on how to tackle common business challenges.

The ability to ask business-as-usual specific questions direct to the manufacturers of software and also engage in networking with like minded peers is priceless, as is getting up to date information, trends and knowledge on all things ITAM / SAM related.

In addition, the ITAM review website is a great resource, often harbouring articles that trigger the IT thought process.

Did I also mention these events are free? With this in mind, anyone within the ITAM / SAM / IT procurement arena could greatly benefit from attending these events.”

Thanks again ITAM Review!”

Victoria Kealy

Victoria works in our Events and Marketing team. If you'd like to get in contact with Victoria, you can connect via LinkedIn or via email at victoria.kealy@itassetmanagement.net

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Inventory & Discovery Tools Group Test: The Results

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The results of the Inventory and Discovery Tools Group Test are now live.

The vendors featured in this review are BDNA, FrontRange Solutions, HP, iQuate, Nexthink, Numara Software and ServiceNow.

Please visit this page to view the results.

In summary,

  • The ITAM Review has flipped it’s business model, all information is free to access without registration
  • Inventory and Discovery are fundamental building blocks of ITAM – Inventory should not be viewed as a commodity item – it is important to get it right
  • There is some great technology out there – Innovation in this sector of the market is alive and well.
  • Understand the primary market focus for each vendor so you understand their strategy

Best in Class

  • Best in Class for Mid-Market Size Companies: Numara FootPrints Inventory Manager and Compliance Manager
  • Best in Class for Enterprise Size Companies: ServiceNow Discovery
  • Best in Class – All Tools – Numara FootPrints Inventory Manager and Compliance Manager

Please visit this page to view the results.

Thank you to all the vendors for participating in this process.

Video Overview ~ 25 Mins

[vimeo 31511547 400 300]

Inventory & Discovery Tools Group Test [The ITAM Review]

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Video: How to Run Oracle on VMware

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Cowardly Lion; Solve Fear, Solve the Problem

In this informative session Jason Keogh from iQuate and Will Monin from VMware explore how to optimize Oracle licensing within VMware environments.

Topics:

  • How Oracle is licensed?
  • Processors, Cores and Core Factors
  • Hard vs. Soft Partitioning
  • VMotion
  • Virtualization Growth and Trends
  • Why virtualizing Oracle is slower than other Vendors
  • VMware’s Perspective – Solve fear, Solve the Problem
  • Maximizing Value  – Using Working Examples
  • Where VMware customers are going

Questions Covered During the Call

  • Q. Do cold DR servers need to be licensed?
  • Q. How do you restrict Oracle running in a Virtual environment to a certain blade or cluster?
  • Q. Should we set up a separate dedicated Oracle VMware cluster?
  • Q. Can iQuate tell when a certain DB option was installed (e.g. if core factors changed over time)
  • Q. Is a dedicated Oracle VM cluster accepted by Oracle?

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Review: Marcus Evans SAM Conference [Berlin, Germany]

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This is a guest post by Jason Keogh of iQuate. If you want to guest post on this blog please contact us.

I’m delighted to say that I’ve been asked to become a regular contributor  to the ITAM Review as a guest blogger.

This is the first, of hopefully many blog pieces to come. During 2012 I’ll be attending and speaking at, at least 8 ITAM/SAM conferences from around the world. I’ve recently returned from my first conference of the year, in Berlin…

Berlin – exciting, diverse, soaked in history and culture and renowned for nightlife beyond compare. Berlin could never be boring… could it?

Last week Marcus Evans hosted the 7th Annual Pan-European conference on Software Asset & License Management in Berlin.

There were 15 sessions during the 2 days, and I hate to say it, but the majority were actually quite poor. It seemed that many of the speakers had never presented before. Several had issues with fluency in English and as many were from similar roles,  quite a few of the presentations were similar in content. Berlin, at least for those 2 days, was pretty boring!

It wasn’t all bad news though – there were some notable highlights, and some useful tips to be had.

Mette Andreassen from DSV in Denmark had a very good presentation, which focused on the importance of networking with peers and colleagues for successful SAM. Mette was a high energy presenter – likely from the caffeine intake she has if she actually practices what she preaches and has coffee, according to her summary:

  • With your management to ensure continued buy in
  • With Operations to ensure mutual understanding
  • With global and local technicians to make them understand their importance
  • With procurement managers to ensure alignment on investments
  • With Vendor Key Account Managers to get good pricing
  • With experts for guidance and advice
  • With your peers to learn from their experiences

That’s a lot of coffee – it’s also a good example of the number of stakeholders that those who have a responsibility for  license management need to interact with. In my experience, SAM projects often run into difficulties in organizations where positive relationships are not maintained with one or more of these stakeholders. Certain individuals start becoming part of the problem, rather than part of the solution as they don’t understand the wider goals of certain requirements and activities.

As well as showcasing some excellent new cars from Mercedes, Thomas Plum of Daimler included some thought provoking clauses he suggests companies should negotiate into contracts with major vendors during procurement. If you don’t have the buying power of a Daimler, some of these may be tricky to achieve – but it’s always worth asking:

  •  Invoice to be accepted as license evidence
  •  Immediate re-use right after hardware changes (once un-installed, can be re-installed without delay or penalty)
  • Upgrade and downgrade rights
  • Pre-installation rights
  • Cross/Multi-language rights

Jason Keogh, iQuate

In my ultimately personal  opinion, perhaps 25%  of the presentations were interesting. However others with fewer SAM-induced battle scars than I, may disagree.  If attending a conference can give you just 1 or 2 little takeaways that make you or your function more efficient, it really is worth the time and effort to go.  After all, staying in your office all the time doesn’t provide much  insight or learning from the experience of others.

For me, one of the most interesting aspects of this conference were the attendees. They really knew their stuff,  conversations raised interesting opinions and challenges. I personally got value from my time at the event – but it could have been so much better…

During my attendance at conferences throughout this year, I’ll be looking for new and interesting thinking. Hopefully for those conferences where I’m presenting, I’ll be bringing some new and interesting thinking. I think the new reality that has been caused by the rise of technologies such as cloud, “utility” servers and virtual desktops bring interesting new challenges and requirements to our industry. I look forward to facing those challenges, and hopefully, coming up with innovative solutions to some of the problems ahead.

This is a guest post by Jason Keogh of iQuate. If you want to guest post on this blog please contact us.

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Why SAM Needs to Focus on Cloud

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"Migrating expensive, server software to shared services and cloud based infrastructure without a proper understanding of the risks involved will cost enterprises millions of dollars."

Microsoft WPC (Worldwide Partner Conference) was held in July. I was delighted to be asked to speak at it.

The session was entitled “Cloudy, with a chance of Virtualization” – and the audience were Microsoft partners from around the world.

The key drift of my presentation was this: If you understand Cloud computing, and the impact it has on software licensing, you can offer services to large enterprises and make lots of money.

Why are Enterprises going to pay lots of money for services in these areas? Because a proper understanding of the risks and costs involved in moving expensive, data center/server software into shared services and cloud based infrastructure will save large enterprises millions of dollars, while reducing risk. If you don’t agree strongly with that sentence, let me invert it for you: migrating expensive, server software to shared services and cloud based infrastructure without a proper understanding of the risks involved will cost enterprises millions of dollars. Do you agree now?

If you are an ITAM or SAM professional (internal to the enterprise, or an external consultant), and you want to provide significant value to your employer/customers – you need to focus on this area.

Focus on the right cloud!

SAM and ITAM projects and especially discovery technologies have traditionally focused on desktop software. In my opinion, this was a mistake. Large enterprises spend 70% of their software budget in the datacenter, not on “desktop” software, BYOD or mobile computing. As we move forward, I suggest that SAM and ITAM practitioners need to ensure they understand “Cloud” – and focus most of their attention appropriately. There are three main types of cloud:

  1. SaaS – Software as a Service
  2. PaaS – Platform as a Service
  3. IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service

Currently, most hype/focus is on SaaS – this is the biggest sector, worth over USD $12bn in 2011. Analyst predictions see this reaching $22bn by 2015. SaaS poster boys include Salesforce.com and Office365. For the enterprise, understanding and controlling SaaS is important, but relatively simple. The SaaS providers bill monthly and typically provide excellent visibility and billing breakdowns. You need to ensure visibility here, and that your systems and processes can cope with monitoring SaaS spend, but you don’t need to worry, the data you need to understand should be easily to hand.

PaaS is, at the moment, relatively uninteresting to the enterprise. Azure and Cloudbees are examples of PaaS. The PaaS market was worth USD $0.5bn in 2011, by 2015 this will have grown to $1.7bn, a minnow next to the other cloud types. PaaS is mainly used by SaaS companies as a platform for their offerings and to interconnect data.

IaaS is where your focus as an enterprise SAM practitioner needs to be. The phrases “Internal Cloud”, “External Cloud” and “Hybrid Cloud” typically refer to IaaS clouds. Moving from physical servers to an internal, shared services cloud of VM’s is what IaaS is all about. Migrating from internal VM’s to externally hosted VM’s in Amazon AWS or Rackspace is also IaaS. IaaS was only worth USD $4.2bn in 2011. This is set to grow massively, to $19.6bn by 2015 – IaaS is the game changer for enterprise/corporate IT.

Make sure you know what you need to know

Data center transformation and cloud migration projects need involvement from IT Asset Management and Software Asset Management functions before, during and after project implementation.

Before: If your CIO, Enterprise Architects or IT organization is even thinking about considering a transformation or migration – you need to understand what you have in place right now, so that you can analyze what systems to potentially migrate. This means you need to know what servers are running which databases, application servers, web servers, email systems, etc. You need to know the details of their physical and virtual hardware configuration, clustering, database and app server editions, options, interconnectivity, etc.

Once you understand all of that, you can begin to consider how to structure/dedicate different server farms to different technologies to leverage their licensing as it relates to hardware measurement (PVU/Processor/Core licensing), failover and clustering. You can then model the cost implications of a transformation or migration.

If you don’t have the details you require, you can’t understand the full costs or benefits involved…

During: Playing “shuffle” with your mission critical systems is something best done with careful planning and complete visibility. Knowing what’s where and how it’s interconnected means you can minimize risk during this stressful process.

If you don’t have this visibility during migration, something surprising is bound to happen. Surprises are never pleasant during a major systems move!

After: Once the dust has settled and your systems are now operating in their new, virtual reality, you need to maintain vigilance. The virtual servers which systems are running on are typically more fluid. You need to continually be aware of what is running where so that you can ensure the right workloads (software!) is running on the right clusters/farms (hardware!).

Deploying a VM running (for example) Oracle products onto a VM cluster not licensed for those products can be a very expensive mistake if not prevented (or identified and corrected quickly). At the same time, when properly managed, cloud based systems can massively reduce the cost of the software deployed on them. Post migration, you can run a more flexible, often faster, more highly redundant environment with less cost – IF you can manage and maintain visibility. Without that visibility the risk of negative impact from a vendor audit is massively increased.

Conclusion

If you have clear visibility of your software and hardware assets and can maintain visibility of physical and virtual hardware as data center transformation and cloud migration projects re-shape the IT landscape – you can leverage the power of IaaS infrastructure and reduce your overall costs.

Whether you’re are an external or internal provider of expertise in this area, understanding where to focus in “Cloud computing” and how to leverage software licensing and migration scenarios can bring you, and your employer/customer significant benefits.

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EVENT: IT Cost Optimization in an era of Virtualization [London, 12th March]

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BCS London offices are two minutes walk from Covent Garden

BCS London offices are two minutes walk from Covent Garden

WHAT

IT Cost Optimization in an era of Virtualization:

“Learn about new technologies and practices that will enable you to achieve IT cost optimization and lower the total cost of ownership of your server estate.

If it is part of your remit to reduce costs, reduce non-compliance risk, or achieve IT optimization or transformation, this conference will help you reach those goals in 2013. You will also gain a chance to network with your peers and gain insight into which strategies and technology has helped organizations realize the full potential of virtualization.”

WHERE

BCS London Office, First Floor, The Davidson Building, 5 Southampton Street, London, WC2E 7HA Map

WHEN

Tuesday 12th March 2013 9am – 5pm SORRY EVENT POSTPONED

WHO

  • Peter Barnes, VMware
  • David Phillips, SAMLeaders
  • Jason Keogh, iQuate

BOOKING

Learn More and Book SORRY EVENT POSTPONED

Two special offers for ITAM Review readers:

  • Extended Early Bird Discount (50%)
  • Also quote  ‘ITAMReview‘ as your promotional code to be entered into a draw for a Samsung 10 tablet (Limited to ITAM Review readers only).

For booking / discount enquiries please email alma@iquate.com

See you there!

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iQuate iQSonar for Inventory and Discovery

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This independent review is part of our Inventory and Discovery Tool Review.

Executive Summary

Elevator pitch Powerful agentless discovery for large and complex IT environments.
Strengths
  • Dynamic User Interface (UI). Everything is interactive and easy to use, and the information is accessible and easy to digest.
  • Unique product adapters
  • Very detailed hardware information
  • Perfect for the datacentre environment
Weaknesses
  • Does not address cloud based services or subscriptions
  • IQSonar does not do software usage metering in desktop environments
Primary Market Focus
  • Size: Large enterprise environments
  • Use: Collecting complex server data for Datacentre Licensing
  • Environment: Servers and datacentres

Commercial Summary

Vendor iQuate
Product iQSonar
Version Reviewed Version 3
Date of version release June 2014
Year founded 2002
Customers <100
Pricing structure A number of licensing models are available including: Perpetual, Subscription, and Project Licence.Licensing is based on three dimensions: Vendor/Technology coverage (i.e. Oracle, IBM, Microsoft), estate size, and license duration requirement. Price list not disclosed.
Competitive Differentiators
  • Unique product adapters for complex license vendors such as Microsoft, IBM, and Oracle
  • iQDataHub provides the ability to perform trend analysis with third-party tools

Independent Review

iQuate iQSonar

iQSonar is a sophisticated, easy to use inventory and discovery tool, which possesses a number of unique features for a tool of its kind, such as the unique product adapters and third-party integration.

In The ITAM Review’s opinion, iQSonar has a dynamic UI, which displays an array of useful and relevant information to the end user, such as install base, and hardware information. In addition, everything appears to be interactive and easily customizable such that you can change the experience you receive based on the information you need. Furthermore, the UI doesn’t provide you with an overload of information, instead displaying information such that it can be easily read and understood.

In our view, another impressive feature of iQSonar is its unique product adapters for Microsoft, IBM and Oracle. Product adapters are built in capabilities for managing complex software publishers. Software Asset Management (SAM) tools usual provide some sort of specialist feature for Oracle or SAP licensing, but they don’t often provide the same sort of sophisticated management capabilities for three of the major software vendors. We believe that this feature will certainly help customers better manage their complex licenses to ensure compliancy and also license optimization.

Integration possibilities with other third-party tools are a further positive aspect of the iQSonar product in our opinion. With iQDataHub, users are able to take snapshots of their inventory data over time, providing the capability to perform trend analysis in third-party tools. This allows customers to integrate existing ITAM tools with the iQSonar product, We feel that this is a great selling point for iQSonar as it means users don’t have to endure the hassle of moving to an ITAM solution, they can simply integrate iQSonar into their existing IT infrastructure. It also allows customers to utilize two different data sets, which we believe will improve the users experience in regards to accuracy and analysis purposes.

Another area that we really liked within this tool is how detailed the hardware reporting is. The amount of hardware information you receive is extremely comprehensive, which we believe will no doubt help with any ITAM and Hardware Asset Management (HAM) project or program. Generally, there are large savings to be made in the datacentre and sever environment, there are also savings to be made in the hardware environment. This is where we feel iQSonar could help consolidate your spending and also help you to reduce spending on hardware.

However, despite the number of impressive features in the iQSonar product, we do feel that it is lacking any form of cloud monitoring, an increasing area of spend and risk in the datacentre. With a lot of software and licensing models moving towards a cloud-based structure, we think that some form of cloud inventory solution is needed within the tool to help assist with managing emerging cloud environments such as cloud subscriptions or pay per use cloud computing power.

Overall, we believe that iQSonar is a very sophisticated tool for the datacentre and server environment. iQSonar can handle desktop inventory but does not offer software usage metering in desktop environments. However, as iQuate state that it works with other vendors to ensure smooth integration with third-party tools, there is likely the option to use the product in conjunction with a more sophisticated desktop tool. It would also compliment systems management tools such as Microsoft SCCM.

General Inventory

Inventory of hardware devices in a network is typically based on either a hostname and/or MAC address. Since both these values can be modified within the product, they are not sufficiently adequate for long-term identification (or comparison) purposes and can lead to duplicate records for a single asset. These issues have forced iQuate to provide something different with respects to inventory records to combat the hurdles other solutions fall at.

iQuate states that iQSonar takes a unique approach to inventory and discovery. Each supported platform, application, or technology is assessed and specific, non-changing attributes are identified. iQuate continue to state that using these attributes and a proprietary ranking algorithm allows iQSonar to generate a “unique identifier” to enable consistent identification of assets regardless of configuration changes.

Furthermore, iQuate states that iQSonar includes the iQDataHub inventory feature. The iQDataHub is in essence a ‘data warehouse’ that provides an open database for end users and partners to view data and associated API (application program interface) information. iQuate further states that its customers can then manipulate this data and also feed in data from other (possibly already existing within the environment) third-party solutions.

iQDataHub also provides a central repository of software asset related data, allowing the tool to scan data that can be augmented with data from other sources. Data from multiple iQSonar engines, and from different time periods, can be populated in a single location. In addition, it supports cleansing and categorization of scanned data, which in our opinion makes it more useful and easier to work with. As mentioned previously, the iQDataHub allows users to use information from not only iQSonar, but also from other SAM tools. What this effectively means is that the data from the iQSonar tool, and the data from existing third-party solutions can be populated together and stored in a single, central repository for data analysis.

Discovery

From a discovery aspect, iQSonar states that it uses 100% agentless technology. Once installed on a central server, no additional software is needed before, or installed during, the scanning process. This means that it can automatically detect technology to deliver a complete view of IT inventory, without the need for a list of all assets to be scanned in advance. We feel that using agentless technology is a benefit to the tool, as there can often be flaws with agents, such as users removing them from their machines!

The iQSonar solution is deployed within the organisations network and stores all of the data gathered in a central repository. We believe this to be impressive considering the fact that the information is coming from agentless technology. Having a centralised store for all of the data in our view is an important factor when considering an inventory and discovery tool. You need information to be in one place, not scattered around various databases within the network.

With its agentless technology, iQuate has developed an intelligent tool that can go out and target specific data that the user wants updating in real-time. The user can point the tool to a certain area of the network, and iQSonar will seek out and provide them with updated data that they can they turn into reports for analysis. Whilst iQSonar is off gathering the information, the user interface’s performance isn’t impacted in anyway, allowing the user to continue to use the tool whilst the data is being populated, which we feel that is extremely important for a busy ITAM professional who doesn’t want to wait around for data scans to complete.

Reporting

iQuate states that iQSonar’s data exploration tool, iQExplore, enables searching and filtering, and extensive analysis across a huge range of attributes delivering results visually in the form of interactive graphs and detailed table reports. From what we have seen the reports appear to be comprehensive and easy to populate, and they can be customized to provide the user with the specific data that they require. iQSonar is no different to other tools in that the report can then be exported into various file formats for analysis and general future use.

In Summary

We believe that iQSonar is a strong offering for any organizations looking for the detailed inventory required to manage complex licensing in the datacentre environment.

In their own words

“iQSonar is the world’s leading IT asset management discovery and inventory solution which can deliver even richer capabilities to your business. It can provide you with:

• Rich business intelligence and analysis

• Advanced data aggregation and augmentation

• Seamless interoperability with your existing solutions

iQSonar is a powerful discovery platform built to handle highly complex infrastructures. Deployed agentlessly across the largest and most challenging of networks with multiple platforms, protocols, devices and applications, it delivers unrivalled visibility of all physical, clustered and cloud-based assets, thanks to its extensive technical breadth and depth.

iQSonar includes the iQDataHub data warehouse, allowing iQSonar scan data to be augmented with data from other sources to provide a rich central repository of SAM related data. Data from multiple iQSonar engines, and from different time periods, can be aggregated in a single location. iQDataHub also supports sophisticated cleansing and categorisation of scanned data, making it even more useful and easier to work with.

As physical, virtual and cloud-based environments grow ever more complex and enterprise-wide demands for high quality business information increase, iQuate understands how crucial it is to have accurate IT inventory. By improving inventory accuracy, we enhance its value for everyone who uses it to make decisions, to optimize service delivery and to drive business performance. iQSonar’s innovative technology is designed to work with other IT management processes and tools, creating a single, sharable and verified IT inventory that is more accurate and useful than ever before.”

Screenshots

Disclaimer, Scope and Limitations

The information contained in this review is based on sources and information believed to be accurate as of the time it was created. Therefore, the completeness and current accuracy of the information provided cannot be guaranteed. Readers should therefore use the contents of this review as a general guideline, and not as the ultimate source of truth.

Similarly, this review is not based on rigorous and exhaustive technical study. The ITAM Review recommends that readers complete a thorough live evaluation before investing in technology.

This is a paid review, that is, the vendors included in this review paid to participate in exchange for all results and analysis being published free of charge, without registration.

For further information, please read our Disclosure page.

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Podcast Episode 8: The Oracle Negotiation Grey Zone

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Ahead of our Oracle Seminar in New York later this month Martin Thompson talks with guests about the grey zone of Oracle negotiation, cloud options with Oracle and copyright principles and standing up against unreasonable claims

View all our podcasts on SoundCloud or iTunes.

 

Guests

Ania Levy from Levy LeGette

Craig Guarente from Palisade Compliance

Doug Ehrenreich from iQuate

John Emmitt from Flexera Software

James Gabriel from Snow Software

Show Notes

Positive recommendations for Oracle

Open letter to Larry Ellison and the Oracle board 

The post Podcast Episode 8: The Oracle Negotiation Grey Zone appeared first on The ITAM Review.

Alternatives to Oracle database

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It has been suggested that Oracle derives 50% of Oracle database revenue in the UK from audit activity and the Campaign for Clear Licensing has reported that “92% of customers say that Oracle does not clearly communicate licensing changes”.

Maybe you’ve grown bored of propping up Oracle’s flagging database business? maybe you are irritated by the continual threat of audit? Maybe it’s time to consider alternatives?

Viable Alternatives

I recently met with James Mills of TmaxSoft who sell Tibero, an alternative to Oracle database.

Tibero don’t audit customers, have a straightforward licensing program with no boobytraps, and is said to cost 50% cheaper than Oracle. So, technology challenges aside (discussed below), what a refreshing alternative.

Those seeking alternatives might also like to take a look at these lists:

Alternatives to traditional relational databases might also be considered. Patrick McFadin of Apache Cassandra at DataStax said:

Patrick McFadin of Apache Cassandra at DataStax

Patrick McFadin of Apache Cassandra at DataStax

“There are a few different options. If you want to stick with similar, relational database technologies then the alternatives are Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL or PostgreSQL.

If you want to look at distributed storage and processing, then there are new technology options under the banner of NoSQL – this is a family of databases that are designed to work in different, workload-specific, ways. They come from problems faced by the likes of Google and Facebook – these companies developed the technologies to handle their data management issues, then open sourced the technologies.

Apache Cassandra is a good example – it was originally developed at Facebook, then became part of the Apache Software Foundation. Cassandra is now used by companies including Netflix, eBay and SONY to power their online business and massive scaling needs. Cassandra has tended to be used by web companies that need an always-on, highly scaling database. In some cases even across multiple data centers.

Cassandra can and has been used to replace Oracle DB instances in retail, finance / banking and telco services.

From a licensing perspective, open source technologies come in at around ten percent of the cost of a comparable Oracle license. This is a significant TCO advantage when looking at the speed and size of data needed to be competitive.”

Technology Challenges “Yes, but Oracle owns the stack”

Part of Oracle’s enduring stickiness is it’s ownership of the stack of technology around the database. Can we rip out Oracle and replace it with something else? or shall we keep taking the abuse and grin and bear it? This is a point Oracle and other software dinosaurs will labour during pitches and negotiations, pouring fresh ladles of FUD on alternatives.

From an ITAM and procurement viewpoint, there are three major technology and political hurdles to address:

  1. Convincing Oracle DBA’s that Oracle is not the only fruit and there is life, technology and career advancement beyond their collection Oracle qualifications.
  2. Leaning upon ISV’s, hardware manufacturers and cloud infrastructure supplliers to ensure the stack required to deliver your business applications has viable alternatives from progressive technology partners
  3. Address the fear of change (“We’ve always used Oracle database”, “We’ve never heard of this other company”, “will it work” and so on) – Again, something Oracle account managers will focus on.

Building the Business Case and Making the Transition

Shane McDermott, iQuate

Shane McDermott, iQuate

IT Asset Management professionals can play an instrumental role in finding alternatives and scoping out the transition (and shedding a great deal of risk, headaches and anguish from an aggressive vendor in the process).

Shane McDermott of iQuate offers the following advice when organisations are considering migrating from Oracle:

“At a high level, there are three stages to making the transition:

1. Assessment

  • Inventory – What is the Oracle deployment?
  • Dependencies – what databases are supporting what apps and what infrastructure is it underpinning?
  • Candidates – Which DBs are configured to possibly suit transfer to an alternative technology – e.g. MSQL. This requires some in depth knowledge of the database config, understanding of Oracle technical dependencies. Some candidates will move easily, others will need rework/engineering/migration plans.
  • Identification – identify the new target infrastructure and associated costs (there may be several of these identified and profiled for different use cases)
  • Plan – organisational dependencies, suppliers, quotes, timelines, contracts etc.

 2. Execution

  • Some can be migrated automatically, others not. Partner/supplier selection to execute and manage migration (we have some partners in this space)

3. Monitoring

  • Verify business case objectives achieved, realise savings, go back and reiterate.”

Your View?

Have you a success story from moving from Oracle to share? What alternatives would you recommend? Please leave a comment below or contact me using the details below. Thanks, Martin

The post Alternatives to Oracle database appeared first on The ITAM Review.

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