CA Pushing Simplification

CA is responding to changes it sees in the market by offering customers easier-to-manage software bundles--and easier-to-manage pricing packages as well.

On the software front, CA is rolling out enhancements to its service desk application that focus on centralizing processes rather than piling on additional task-based tools.

CA Service Desk Manager 12 unifies service desk, change management, configuration management database, application dependency mapping, knowledge management, remote support automation and reporting capabilities. The product should help customers looking to adopt best-practices and move away from ad hoc tasks to more streamlined processes.

On the pricing front, CA is moving more applications to a service-based (SaaS) model in response to customer demand, according to InfoWorld.

InformationWeek notes that CA is also focusing on simplification when it comes to mainframes.

Ironically, the virtualization hype-cycle has helped reignite interest in mainframes, as customers realize that they already own some of the best virtualization technology the world has to offer.

Unfortunately, the generation of IT administrators who introduced and then managed mainframes in the enterprise is nearing retirement age en masse. CA sees this as an opportunity:

First, CA will introduce a consistent installation stack to make it easy to get software up and running. The company will also move to a more predictable release cycle, starting with a new round of releases in May, that will also help CA do better integration testing. New products will be more automated, with more set pre-configurations. It will also enlist partners to help with installation and care and feeding of mainframes.

Is this just part one of "the new adventures of old technology?"