IBM Software Leads in Service Management

Based on customer studies by independent analyst firm Ovum Summit, IBM today announced that it has been identified as one of the most strategic vendors in the IT Service Management (ITSM) market.

Industry analyst firm Ovum Summit recently published its 2006 report card for IT Service Management. ITSM encompasses IT staffing, planning, operations or governance and services lifecycle management; the backbone of every business.

According to enterprise and mid-market customers polled by Ovum Summit in mid 2006, IBM led in the category of "most strategic IT management software vendor" with 11 percent of customers choosing IBM. In the same survey, 8 percent of customers rated HP as their strategic IT management software vendor, 7 percent rated BMC as their strategic IT management software vendor and 6 percent rated CA as their strategic vendor.

In addition, IBM was identified as having the most differentiated business/IT alignment strategy of the four ITSM vendors profiled. Ovum Summit credited IBM in this category as a result of its middleware integration and recent software acquisitions including MRO Software, Micromuse and Vallent. IBM's emphasis on IT governance, risk mitigation and service management also contributed to this ranking.

"The industry increasingly views IT services on an end-to-end basis that begins with business-led governance and policies and carries across the full lifecycle of application development, runtime operations, and use of third-party services ranging from outsourcers to software-as-a-service providers," said Mary Johnston Turner, vice president of the Ovum Summit. "IBM's commitment to service management and long-term commitment to SOA/IT governance clearly aligns with the market's trajectory."

"IBM is proud that customers name us their strategic choice for IT management software," said IBM's Al Zollar, General Manager, IBM Tivoli. "IBM is dedicated to providing our clients robust service management solutions that encompass the breadth of our integrated software portfolio and adhere to industry best practices such as ITIL. We are committed to helping them manage their business to grow the bottom line" - IBM.