Opsware Inc. (NASDAQ:OPSW), the leading provider of Data Center Automation software, today announced Opsware Server Automation System 6.5, a major upgrade to the industry’s number one choice for automating the full lifecycle management of physical and virtual servers. With significantly increased functionality, deeper integration with Opsware Process Automation System, and expanded support for Windows, Linux and Virtualization, Server Automation System 6.5 further delivers on Opsware’s vision for helping IT eliminate latency from data center operations to achieve a “zero-latency data center.”

Ranked by IDC as by far the fastest growing server provisioning software, Opsware’s Server Automation System has been deployed in hundreds of leading organizations around the world, including Acxiom, Atos Origin, BT, Convergys, GAD, LogicaCMG, and Network Appliance. The software automates day-to-day operational activities, such as server provisioning, compliance, updates, and application configuration management. It also automates the task of setting and enforcing regulatory and best practice standards, delivering executive-level, at-a-glance visibility into server, software, and application configuration for regulatory compliance. Because the software allows a single administrator to accomplish in hours what used to take several administrators days to accomplish, it has helped many Opsware customers reduce operational costs and achieve efficiencies by as much as 90% per task.

“We view Opsware Server Automation System as a cornerstone in our effort to run the highest quality, most efficient data center operation in the industry,” said Marty Sunde, Infrastructure Management Division Leader at Acxiom. “As one of the industry’s leading IT service providers, we set the bar very high for how efficiently we run our operations. Working with Opsware will enable us to replace manual data center tasks with a full lifecycle automation approach that is essential to key data center initiatives such as Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) standardization.”

Deep, Automated Lifecycle Management for Windows, Linux and Virtual Server Environments

The trend in enterprise data centers is strongly towards three key platforms that are growing markedly faster than any others: Windows Servers, Linux, and virtual server environments. Opsware Server Automation System 6.5 adds a deep array of new features designed to support full lifecycle management on these platforms.

• Microsoft Windows PowerShell Integration. Server Automation System 6.5’s powerful data model is now extended to integrate Microsoft Windows PowerShell, a command line shell and scripting language, to help Windows administrators achieve a higher level of productivity. Any information about a server that is managed by the Opsware System is now accessible directly from within PowerShell. Examples include the history for every job run on a Windows server, or what applications are being supported by the server. With this integration now the latest Windows technology can be used to access the right information that has been automatically stored in the Opsware System for change execution.
• Seamless Integration with Process Automation System for Unmatched ITIL Compliance. Server Automation System 6.5’s seamless integration with the Opsware Process Automation System greatly accelerates the process of standardizing on Information Technology and Infrastructure Library (ITIL) best practices and similar standards. The integrated systems provide out-of-the-box workflow automation for ITIL incident, problem, change and release management processes, greatly simplifying the task of managing compliance across disparate IT groups and systems. Managing compliance across large, complex organizations and heterogeneous systems is one of the most difficult challenges enterprises face in maintaining ITIL compliance, and the Opsware suite is the first to provide the seamless integration between process and change management necessary to simplify such coordination.
• Automation of next generation Linux environments. Opsware Server Automation System now manages servers running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0 and integrates with the Red Hat Network to provide the easiest way to keep systems up to date and secure. This out-of-the-box integration provides the ability to automatically download software updates and vendor recommendations to Opsware. Opsware takes all vendor recommendations and translates them into actionable software policies, relieving administrators of this tedious task. Opsware also enhances deployment of Red Hat software updates by performing full dependency analysis and resolving any dependencies, ensuring the success of Linux software and patch management.
• Deeper Windows Management and Compliance. In addition to providing audit and remediation for all COM+/DLL and metabase objects, Server Automation System 6.5 supports Microsoft Windows Pre-Installation Environment (WinPE), allowing for much more flexible Windows provisioning. In addition, the system now supports creating exceptions on audit rules. Individual rules can be selected on a per-audit, per-server basis; exceptions can expire at a pre-determined date; and rules with exceptions are not considered in compliance calculations. Reports can be generated on per-server exceptions.
• Process Controls for Virtualization Deployments. With the proliferation of virtualized servers in data centers, virtualization management has become a major concern. With the launch of Opsware Virtualization Director earlier this year, Opsware already has offered industry-leading automated management for both VMware and Solaris 10 virtual platforms. With Server Automation System 6.5 Opsware extends its virtualization management capabilities by adding discovery and application dependency mapping for virtual systems and adding process and work-flow automation. These new capabilities are enabled through integration with Opsware’s Visual Application Manager product and Opsware’s Process Automation System. In particular, the introduction of automated process management for virtual environments allows IT to enforce much-needed process and operational discipline for managing virtual environments. To date, virtual server management has been ad hoc, which is not sustainable in production data centers. The new Server Automation System 6.5 now offers an automated, repeatable, auditable and scalable solution for managing virtualized environments in an enterprise ready, standards-compliant way.

“Opsware Server Automation System 6.5 delivers important new functionality for the fastest growing enterprise platforms that can significantly drive down costs and reduce latency for enterprise IT organizations,” said Tim Howes, CTO at Opsware Inc. “If your data center is running Windows, Linux, or virtualized environments, you can now manage the full lifecycle of these platforms with an unprecedented degree of visibility, flexibility and compliance controls.”