Service Catalog 101

Taming the Virtual Data Center

It goes without saying that virtualization is a phenomenally attractive discipline in the data center.  But with innovation comes risk: 

• The risk of suddenly realizing that you have more virtual servers up than you know about.  And, perhaps more importantly, the risk of not knowing how to FIX your virtual server sprawl problem when you realize you have it.

• The risk of not having pre-determined task orchestration than manages the entire stack of service workloads surrounding your virtualization (storage, network IDs, security, disaster recovery/backup, etc.), and linking that whole process back to the requesters that asked for them in the first place.

• The risk of not being able to leverage your virtualization operating model to include other hosting solutions like physical servers and cloud computing in a visible, controllable way that ensures consistency to the business while staying compliant to IT policies.

Many of our customers have discovered the additive value of having a Service Catalog provide the "operating model" for their virtualization technology.  That's why it's so exciting to us that one of our partners, Anton Systems, Inc., is spreading the word about Taming the Virtual Data Center in a mid-day seminar at the prestigious Doral Resort and Spa in Miami, Florida, this Thursday, October 1, 2009, from 11:00am to 2:00pm. 

A solid line up of virtualization and technology partners including newScale, VMware, and NetApp will present their perspectives on virtualization best practices, ending with yours truly presenting on how newScale's FrontOffice Suite for the Virtual Data Center solution gives you that elusive "operating model" that is extensible and flexible without customization.

Come learn from the industry's best and brightest; click on the link above for more information or to register for the event.  Hey, we're giving away shirts and they're throwing in lunch with the deal so you really can't go wrong.

Service Catalog as Self-Service IT Storefront

Recently the Federal Government announced an initiative out of the General Services Administration called Apps.gov.

The focus of this initiative is to provide a self-service 'storefront' portal to order business applications and cloud services.  It's essentially an IT Service Catalog (although clearly still a work in progress).  

To learn more about Apps.gov and its impact, take a look at the CNET article Five ways that Apps.gov is a trendsetter. 

Trend #1?  It's the IT Service Catalog.

Service Portfolio Management for CIOs

Today's lead story on SearchCIO.com highlights the Service Catalog and Service Portfolio Management.

The article is called Service Portfolio Management: Helping IT Get Back to Business 

It does a nice job of defining what Service Portfolio Management (SPM) is, its role in ITIL v3, the difference between project portfolio management (PPM) and SPM, and the importance of the Service Catalog in running the business of IT.  

One of my favorite quotes from the article is pictured here to the right, from Forrester analyst Craig Symons.

The article also cites newScale customer Nilesh Patel at Barclays Global Investors (BGI). 

For more on the BGI case study, check out the on-demand Webinar at: www.newscale.com/bgi

Steve the Server Guy - Will Provision for Food

The VMworld 2009 conference is over but everyone’s still talking about Steve the Server Guy and “Will Provision for Food”. We had some fun with this theme at this major event put on by our friends at VMware.

But to get a feel for the serious message behind this visual - the need to track VM requests, enable self-service IT and to enforce standards that control demand - take a look at this informative video starring "Steve the Server Guy" - also known as newScale's own Steve Watkins.

To learn more about  what all the buzz was about regarding the newScale Service Catalog for VMware - just go to www.newscale.com - you can even request a free trial!