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Are you trying to solve problems by thinking within the framework in which they were created? Has your ITIL implementation gotten off track? Are you looking for new inspiration to move forward with ITIL in these tough economic times? Do you understand the true strength of ITIL?

Join us as we talk with Erin Casteel, Solutions Architect with BMC Software. Draw on Erin's wealth of experience as an ITIL consultant for tips on leading change in the organization. Learn when a sense of urgency is useful, how you can avoid reinventing the wheel, what it really means to sell ITIL in the organization, and why it pays to find opportunities in crises.

Bio

Erin Casteel is an IT Service Management Consultant in Sydney, Australia. Her prior experience includes work as a solutions architect for BMC Software. She has more than 18 years of experience in IT. She has worked on IT service management projects in multiple industry sectors. She has trained thousands of people in all levels of ITIL, and has also lectured at the University of Sydney. She is the representative from Australia on the international ISO/IEC 20000 Certification Committee.

Questions

1. You’ve been at this quite awhile and ITIL’s been out for quite awhile now. In fact it's moved on to ITIL Three.  If ITIL is all that great, why isn’t it happening more... or maybe it is happening? What's your perspective of the adoption of that now?
2. What really is the core message of ITIL?
3. So what I'm getting is that lot's of people have gotten on board with ITIL? Some have gotten into it out of survival. Others have taken a more formal path. But everyone gets off track at some level. From your perspective, what are the two or three ways that you see most companies getting off track with their ITIL implementations?What do you recommend based on where they’ve gotten off track?
4. People get excited about implementing ITIL, and often there's a great sense of urgency to get it done. So,what really works? Do you push that feeling of urgency through the whole project, or do you do it sometimes for specific phases of the project?
5. What do you mean when you say that people need to be able to sell ITIL within their organization?
6. What words of advice would you like to leave with our listeners?

Resources

Check back later to download Erin's new article about ITIL implementations in a down economy.

Recommended Reading

by John Kotter

• Leading Change
  Kotter examines the efforts of more than 100 companies to remake themselves into better competitors.
  

• A Sense of Urgency
  Kotter reveals a distinctive view of the kind of urgency needed in every organization.
  

Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton

• The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy Into Action‎
  The Balanced Scorecard translates a company's vision and strategy into a coherent set of performance measures.
• Alignment: using the balanced scorecard to create corporate synergies‎
  In this book, the authors apply their revolutionary Balanced Scorecard management system to corporate-level strategy, revealing how highly successful
• Execution Premium: Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage‎
  Building on their breakthrough works on strategy-focused organizations, the authors describe a multistage system that enables you to gain measurable benefits from your carefully formulated business strategy.
  

Peter Brooks

• Metrics for IT Service Management
  This book considers the design and implementation of metrics in service organizations using industry standard frameworks. It uses the ITIL process structure and many principles from the ITIL and ISO20000 (BS15000) as a basis.
  

Jan van Bon and Leo van Selm

• ISO/IEC 20000: An Introduction‎

This Introduction provides an easy to read document that explains the nature, content and aim of ISO 20

Are you just getting started with a CMDB and looking for the right implementation team? Are you in Stage II and your project is losing steam? Or are you still wondering how to get started?

Join us as we talk with Atwell Williams, Solutions Architect for the Office of the CTO at BMC Software. Get insights into where to start when building and managing a CMDB and find out how to define  what "done" looks like. Learn whether a bottom-up or a top-down approach will work best for you, hear important tips for training your team, and get some great practical advice from one of BMC's experts.

Bio

Atwell Williams has been responsible for assuring the overall performance, availability, and recoverability of BMC's internal production applications, has led the initial implementation of Business Service Management (BSM) within BMC Software, and is currently responsible for educating customers on ITIL® and how to implement Service Management in their organizations.

Resources

BMC Industry Insight: Step-by-Step Approach for Building and Managing Your CMDB

Questions

1. In the BMC Industry Insight: Step-by-Step Approach for Building and Managing Your CMDB, it's said that pulling together the right team increases the chances of a successful CMDB implementation. What would a CMDB implementation dream team look like?  
2. How would you respond to someone who says a CMDB cannot be done?
3.  How about a specific example of an industry outcome?
4. It's been said that some teams implementing CMDB can get "mired in the mud" in Stage II while trying to make sure the CMDB is designed properly and anticipating the entire organizations' needs. How can teams keep the project moving yet be assured they've thoroughly discovered and defined requirements?
5. How do you get started? Is there a difference from a strategy perspective? Is it Bottom up or Top Down when you are trying to do your CMDB?
6.  These are big projects.  How do you know you're going to be successful in a CMDB project before you finish? What will increase your changes of success along the way?
7. The final step in Stage 4 (Construct and Maintain the CMDB) is training the CMDB team. Would you share some examples of how training can make or break adoption?
8. Any final words for our listeners?

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Are you getting the most value out of your environment for the least possible cost? Are you getting the most bang for your capacity? Is there unrecognized risk in your environment? Do you wonder what the Service Optimization maturity model applies to your operation?

Listen in on our conversation with Mike Moser, Product Management Director at BMC Software, as we discuss Mainframes and Service Optimization. Find out how Service Optimization is relevant in the mainframe environment, hear examples of how large companies have increased productivity and reduced costs, and learn how the Service Optimization maturity model can help you identify the highest impact opportunities.

Bio

Mike Moser is a product management director and program executive in BMC Software's Mainframe Service Management business unit. Before coming to BMC, Mike was involved in IT strategic planning, technology planning, and application development. Mike has spent the last nine years with BMC as a product manager in both distributed and mainframe product lines, focusing on making BMC's extensive mainframe solutions portfolio a fully integrated member of their Business Service Management solutions.

Questions

1. Mike the subject of cutting costs is on the top of everyone's minds given the current turbulent world economy.  What are the effects on IT and the mainframe in particular?
2. Downward pressure on costs coupled with a need to perform at even higher levels, strikes me as a paradox. Would you elaborate a bit on this please?
3. Is the potential aspect you mentioned where Service Optimization comes in?
4. Tell me a bit more on what service optimization can do for the mainframe environment?
5. How does someone get started?
6. What exactly 'is' service optimization and why is it important to an IT organization, especially in today's volatile economic environment?
7. What are the three goals of Service Optimization?
8. Why is Service Optimization relevant to mainframe environments?
9. Will you describe the Service Optimization Maturity Model? Why would an IT executive be interested in moving to the next level of Maturity?
10. How does Service Optimization reduce risk for business?
11. Do you have some examples you can share that illustrate the value of Service Optimization to the enterprise?
12. How do you identity the areas where Service Optimization can make the biggest positive impact on the business?

Resources

Service Optimization: How Mainframe Systems Management Can Deliver More Business Value at Less Cost

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Do you want to lower service support costs significantly and still meet the growing demand for new and improved services? Is your IT department siloed and relying on point solutions? Does your IT department know how it really fits into your company's business goals?

Join us as we talk with Doug Mueller, Chief Technology Officer in the Service Management Business Unit of BMC Software. Get insights into ways to incrementally move into taking a holistic approach to ITIL and service support. Hear examples of how a holistic approach benefited various types of businesses, while increasing accuracy, efficiency, and responsiveness. Find out how becoming company business aware can enhance IT's role in delivering the company's product.

Bio

Doug Mueller serves as Chief Technology Officer, Service Management Business Unit of BMC Software. Doug is responsible for helping drive the architecture and direction of the BSM, Service Support, and Atrium initiatives. He joined BMC in 2002 as part of the acquisition of Remedy where he was a co-founder.

Questions

1. I've heard you talk about a holistic view as it relates to Service Support. Can you explain what you mean by that? I'd like to know more about that. 
2. From a pragmatic approach, you know how IT shops are. We're all really very busy. How do I go about implementing this holistic approach while still getting things done?
3. Do you have some examples or use cases you can share about service awareness?

Resources

White Paper: Why You Should Take a Holistic Approach to ITIL and Service Support (pdf)

To our listeners – if you have any questions or feedback and input for new shows please let us know. We want to hear from you. Send an email to talkbmc at bmc.com

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 IT organizations are being driven to reduce costs, yet service-delivery expectations remain very high.  We may be putting off CPU upgrades, but the business wants to deliver high levels of service.

Listen in as Bill Arledge, Consulting Product Manager, at BMC Software talks about Service Optimization and data management. Find out about combining intelligent automation with best practices, managing your environment to drive down costs and achieve the goal of improving service. Get tips for determining how Service Optimization can benefit your environment, and steps for implementation.

Bio

Bill Arledge is a Consulting Product Manager, at BMC Software. Bill is an IT veteran with 33 years experience across a variety of roles, including application development and database administration. Bill’s database experience began in the late 1970’s as an IMS DBA and developer. He began working with DB2 in 1984 as a database specialist at IBM. He worked with DB2 throughout the late eighties, consulting with numerous IBM customers on existing and planned DB2 implementations. Bill joined BMC in 1990 and is currently a technical product manager responsible for BMC’s DB2 data management products. In that capacity he consults extensively with BMC DB2 customers and works closely with BMC’s Research and Development organization to drive product direction.

Questions

We're really in a challenging environment for data management these days. IT organizations are being driven to reduce costs, but the service-delivery expectations remain very high. We live in  24 by 7,  on-demand world and customers expect no downtime and the competition is always pushing new features to woe customers.

1.  Will you tell us a little about BMC’s service optimization strategy and how it can help accomplish these goals?
2.  What's your experience now, in 2009? Surely larger companies and data centers have gotten on board with Service Optimization or automation, or is this still a new concept--are they still struggling with it? Can you give me an example where automation has made a difference, especially when it's dealing with the way things have traditionally been done? 
3.   What are some questions IT managers should ask to determine the value Service Optimization would bring to their IT and business environment environment?
4.   What are the steps needed to implement Service Optimization?
5.  Can you provide examples of IT data management disciplines that can be improved using service optimization?

Resources

Service Optimization: Delivering More Business Value at Less Cost From Mainframe Data Management

To our listeners – if you have any questions or feedback and input for new shows please let us know. We want to hear from you. Send an email to talkbmc at bmc.com

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Even in 2009, the mainframe environment still contains the vast majority of the mission-critical applications for businesses. Mainframes are the lifeblood of our businesses. Storage on mainframes continues to grow each year due to current compliance requirements. More and more data has to be retained over longer periods of time, yet be accessible to business, auditors and government agencies.

Today, due to the graying of the workforce, IT struggles with delivering higher service levels, reducing risk to business, and increasing productivity in the mainframe environment. Service Optimization can help. Service Optimization is a disciplined approach that combines intelligent automation with best practices, to take advantage of advanced technologies out there today to make the business more effective and efficient. Listen is as Mike Spencer, Storage and Optimization strategist in the Mainframe Service Management business unit of BMC Software, talks about Service Optimization for storage in the mainframe environment.

Bio

Mike Spencer is a Storage and Optimization strategist in the Mainframe Service Management business unit of BMC Software.  He has over 20 years of IT industry experience, primarily focused on storage, capacity, performance planning and business continuity solutions.  He has presented at multiple technical conferences and user group events on storage and storage management best practices. 

Questions

1. What are the top trends you see in the area of storage and in particular with the mainframe?
2. How does the IT paradox -- being asked to deliver higher services levels to support the business, while at the same time being asked to cut costs, how does that apply to storage?  Are there any other issues that impact that? 
3. A term I hear more and more is Service Optimization. How can service optimization help IT tap the potential of mainframe storage management?
4. For those who are just getting an assignment in this area, what exactly is Service Optimization and how does that relate to storage management?
5. Would you share the 3 ways that effective management of storage can help IT  lower costs and improve availability?
6. I know you have the opportunity to speak in front of a lot of IT groups. What's the one question you wish they'd ask you, but that they're not asking?

Resources

Service Optimization: Delivering More Business Value at Less Cost With Mainframe Storage Management

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Have you thought about BSM, but haven't quite gotten the buy-in you need? Do you have an existing installation that isn't quite living up to your initial expectations? Get down and dirty with BSM installations and implementation. Listen in as Peter Armaly gives pointers that will help you get the greatest benefit from your BSM solution. Learn some pragmatic and specific tips that can help you make BSM even more business relevant.

From planning, to company-wide communication and asking the right questions, this podcast is useful whether you're just considering implementation or you've been using your solution for awhile.

Bio

Peter Armaly has been employed with BMC Software for 11 years and has served in a variety of roles during that time, from Systems Engineer to Principal Solutions Consultant, to his current role as Premier Support Manager for BMC Customer Support. In this latest role, Peter leverages his combined 26 years in IT operations and systems administration, and global technical software sales and management to lead a team of account managers and engineers who are assigned to provide dedicated technical support for the BSM installations at BMC’s largest global customers.

Questions

This is an opportunity to get down and dirty with BSM.  I understand that you and your team spend your time working closely with BMC clients. So let's just say that you're spending time with me, and my company is getting going on a BSM implementation.

1. If we were having marginal success with our BSM implementation, what are some questions you would ask us, ask me to help turn  around the project?
2. When you have client that's just getting started with BSM, or one that's maybe been going with it for awhile, and they ask you that question, what do I do things aren't quite going right? Would it be fair to say that maybe they've lost sight of their incremental goals?
   
3. Are there 3 or 4 keys for us to have enduring success? Do you have some examples?
4. I have another one. It has to do with being afraid to implement BSM. There's a view that it could be looked upon as somehow locking down things in such a way that BSM essentially inhibits innovation. Talk to me about that, why would that be so, and in essence why is that really not the case?
   
5. Are there some questions that every customer, or business that is considering BSM, really ought to ask you before launching a BSM project?

To our listeners – if you have any questions or feedback and input for new shows please let us know. We want to hear from you. Send an email to talk@bmc.com

The IT environment in a large organization is full of complexity, replete with islands of information and architecture, and staff who work in relative isolation, but who may make decisions that have the potential to affect operations enterprise-wide.

Have you, or someone on our staff ever installed a service on a server, and rebooted it, only to discover you brought down a critical application in the process? Have you ever looked at the myriad applications, hardware, and personnel under your direction and wondered how you can effectively manage all of them? How do you know when when it's time to start looking at third-party Business Service Management (BSM) tools? How would a CMDB fit in?

In this Podcast with Eli Almog, Corporate Architect in BMC's CTO Office, discusses how IT managers can know when it's time to look at BSM, consider CMDB, learn how virtualization fits into your organization, and how automation can help your company retain its competetive edge.

Bio

Eli Almog joined BMC in 2007. He focuses in R&D on Service Assurance, Virtualization, Service Automation and Atrium technology.

Eli brings a unique perspective to BMC, helping advance BMC's efforts to gain greater customer intimacy. He brings 18 years of experience at Morgan Stanley headquarters in New York as the Executive Director responsible for systems management in institutional securities.

Eli's expertise is in high-scale system management and monitoring solutions – architecture and engineering of homegrown IT solutions, integrated across vendor products including CMDB, Discovery, and Infrastructure Management and Monitoring. Eli has a long record in dealing with all the major software and hardware vendors in the marketplace, working with the vendors' engineering teams, sales, vendor negotiation, and management.

Questions

1. You know, in your own career prior to BMC, there came an "ah ha" moment when BSM (Business Service Management) came into focus and it made sense to have a third party, like BMC, come in and deliver that solution. Can you discuss some of the signs that would alert an IT manager that it's time to look at a vendor for BSM, as opposed to inventing solutions in house?
2. One of the things I hear alot about over the last 2 to 3 years, is that CMDB is the core to the story, the answer to everything, because it's aware of everything from end-to-end. But where do IT managers really need to focus in order to provide end-to-end infrastructure and application management?
3. Tell me about three applications managers need to focus on now. How can managers monitor and manage these?
4. Let's take a minute to talk about virtualization. How much of it is really buzz? How much of it makes sense and where is it most useful at this point in time?
5. Looking ahead, what do you think IT folks will want to know for 2009, especially so their organization can manage all the moving parts in this current economic climate?

We're always looking for feedback, so feel free to send a note, including any ideas for topics for future podcasts. Please email our host at talkbmc at bmc.com.

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Over the last decade, IT infrastructures have become exceedingly complex, resulting in a highly interconnected network of new and powerful technologies. In a world where IT budgets are shrinking and mergers and acquisitions are more and more common, how do you get the most value from your existing IT resources yet maintain agility?

In this Podcast, with Kia Behnia, Chief Corporate Architect at BMC, find out how service automation can help you navigate the”perfect storm” of new technologies such as server virtualization, as well as legacy distributed and mainframe computing environments that support millions of transactions through multi-tiered applications.

Discover the pain points that can lead a company toward service automation, and how you can benefit from not only from thinking tactically about holes that automation can plug, but also by looking at areas the enterprise that can get the biggest bang for the buck both in the near term and long term. Behnia talks about looking beyond the individual elements that currently exist in the data center or IT environment, and looking at the many ways that automation can help prevent critical human error in the highly interconnected environment. Finally, he outlines ways companies can get service automation right, and leaves us with a summary of the three most critical benefits of service automation.

Resources

BMC Industry Insight: Five Steps to Gaining Control and Managing Complexity in the Data Center through Service Automation

Bio

Kia Behnia Chief Corporate Architect at BMC responsible for virtualization management. over the last 2.5 years he’s also be responsible for setting BMC’s service automation strategy and direction. Prior to joining BMC Software, he was CTO for Marimba, and earlier in his career he was one of the principal technologists for Tivoli Systems.

At BMC. Kia Behnia offers strategies to reduce the frequency and scope of IT failures, better support dependent business services and drive down operating costs with the right change and configuration management approach and technology.

Questions

1. Are there any notable differences between data center automation and service automation? If so, what are the differences?
2. In your paper, you say you should start with identifying pain points. Do you have any examples of extremely painful starting points you’ve seen?
3. What types of holes might persist in an update and maintenance plan that you constantly have to “plug” with automation? Or is that too reactive of an approach?
4. What sorts of environments lend themselves really well to service automation? In other words, what do you consider to be “low hanging fruit?
5. What’s the number one thing an IT department can do to get automation right?
6. Any other stories you want to tell today, and do you have any remaining important points to leave with our listeners?

While he's quick to say that he didn't choose the title of his white paper, "Between the Bazaar and the Cathedral - Where ITIL®, Business Service Management, and Open Source Converge" in this podcast, Whurley openly talks about the lessons learned and leadership of enterprise software meeting open source, and community involvement in producing quality software.

Listen in on this half-hour conversation where he and Tom Parish talk about community as a self managing and self governing entity. As a case study, the 13,000 registered members on BMC Developer's Network at developer.bmc.com comprise that community and entity for BMC Software.

As Whurley loves to state - software is software is software. He means that you have to decide if you have time or money for any software deployment. Learn if there are mystical calculations for whether open source is better for your situation. You'll enjoy listening in and even finding out what sets Whurley's office apart from other BMC offices.

Resources

Between the Bazaar and the Cathedral
Where ITIL®, Business Service Management, and Open Source Converge

Bio

Whurley (William Hurley) is the chief architect of Open Source Strategy at BMC Software, Inc. Famous simply as "whurley," he is responsible for creating BMC's open source agenda and overseeing the company's participation in various free, and open source software communities to advance the adoption and integration of BSM solutions. A technology visionary and holder of 11 important patents, whurley brings 16 years of experience in developing groundbreaking technology. He is the chairman of the Open Management Consortium, a non-profit organization advancing the adoption, development, and integration of open source systems management. Named as an IBM Master Inventor, whurley has received numerous awards including an IBM Pervasive Computing Award and Apple Computer Design Award.

Questions

1. Your paper talks about the merging of open source, the babbling bazaar with different agendas and approaches, with the cathedral of enterprise software, complex architecture built painstakingly by “individual wizards or small bands of mages working in splendid isolation.” Since a CMDB is a basic requirement following ITIL, it would seem that the CMDB isv a cathedral. In what ways is that a good thing, and what are some of the downsides of the church of the CMDB?
2. You’re probably familiar with the terms “whuffie” from and “psychic income” – for our listeners who may not have heard these terms, they roughly translate to reputation, clout, and influence, but are terms usually reserved for individuals’ motivation to contribute to a community or open source project. Do you believe that similar terms are available to describe a company’s reward for participating in and supporting open source?
3. Your office at BMC is creative yet comfortable, with giant green IKEA leaves overhead and a traditional rug beneath your feet. How do both creativity and comfort levels come into play when companies evaluate open source solutions for solving business problems?
4. One concern about combining open source with traditional enterprise software is the claim that total cost of ownership is more with open source. Your paper appears to refute that claim – could you expand on that particular concern especially when merging the two makes it more difficult to calculate TCO? Is it valid?
5. As you know, the ITIL acronym represents a Library with fairly expensive, tightly controlled books. Often people associate open source with free. What are your thoughts on
6. Do you have any good stories of an IT department that lives between the Cathedral and the Bazaar, and benefits from cathedrals built in an open company culture?
7. You have a nice list of over a dozen open source solutions for service management, yet only two provide support for ITIL and BSM. Do you think the trends are moving in a way that mean more and more of those open source solutions will support ITIL and BSM, or is there a mismatch in the audience and purchase decision makers – ITIL and BSM solutions are sold to the business types, while open source solutiosn are “sold” to the technical types?
8. What takeaways do you want to leave listeners with today?
   
   

In your IT department, what happens when your alarm levels go from 300 alarms an hour to 30? Would you trust your tools enough to know that the alarms it sends you are truly halting a business service? While Mary Nugent won’t use this podcast to attempt to tell you technical details on the correct alarming thresholds, she will share some excellent stories.

Discover how IT affects even moving the most precious deliveries safely, thanks to IT predictions and avoidance of failure. When does monitoring a printer actually stop trucks from leaving the premises? What surprises her about the future of predictive intelligence? What can non-futurists learn about predicting a system’s behavior with enough data collection? Find out this and more in this informative interview with Mary Nugent, vice president, Service Assurance, BMC Software.

Bio

Mary Nugent, vice president, Service Assurance, BMC Software, is an accomplished software technology executive with extensive expertise and in-depth knowledge in the emerging service management marketplace. She manages BMC’s customer-facing efforts for the company’s Service Assurance portfolio, including infrastructure management, event and impact management, and capacity management products. In addition to her 15 years of technology experience, she also has 10 years of experience in public accounting and is a certified public accountant.

Questions

1. Predictive intelligence involves a lot of data collection, analysis, and configuration of thresholds and seeking the truth of many data inputs. What can we non-futurists use to help “see” and predict the future? Are dashboards with combined views helpful, or are most people more comfortable in front of their usual threshold and management tools?
2. One concern about predictive intelligence is that if the collected data is wrong, it’s a very costly problem. What do you think about that concern? Is it valid?
3. Are there trade-offs to consider when collecting and storing all this data, or is storage so inexpensive to maintain that the returns on storage investment pay out quickly?
4. Do you have any good stories of an IT department that became “alarm-deaf,” where the noise level of alarms was drowning out meaningful information?
5. What has surprised you the most about predictive intelligence and where it is today?
6. What final message do you want to leave listeners with today?

To our listeners – if you have any questions or feedback and input for new shows please let us know. We want to hear from you. Send an email to talk@bmc.com

When does an IT department stop playing shoot 'em up games with their toolset and start playing cooperatively with tools that work like snap-together blocks? Learn this and more in this podcast with Dennis Drogseth, Vice President of Enterprise Management Associates. His viewpoint and experiences lend themselves well to stories of how CMDB adoption is emerging across several different industries from financial to health care.

He also works out some predictions for how a CMDB can age gracefully and grow modularity, talking about a constituency-driven CMDB model, where the staff, CFO, CEO, or CTO can be satisfied constituent groups supported by the Configuration Items (CIs) included in the model.

Dennis reminds us that it's not just the technology, but the politics, commitment, communication, and executive buy-in all have a role in the success or failure of a CMDB or ITIL project. Dennis explains how the process planning for a CMDB can be political whether it's an ITIL process that you're adhering to, or some derivative of ITIL. Decide if your people and team are up for the task of enabling the IT team to help the business grow and meet its service levels, and learn more about the emergence of the CMDB in helping people get their job done.

Bio

Dennis Drogseth is the Enterprise Management Associates Vice President and joined EMA in 1998. He currently manages the New Hampshire office. He has been a driving force in establishing EMA’s New England presence. Dennis brings 24 years of experience in various aspects of marketing and business planning for systems and network solutions. He directs a team of analysts that focus on the development of the Networked Services Management practice areas that span performance availability and service management across enterprise and telecommunication markets.

Dennis is a featured columnist of the Network Systems Management newsletter for Network World Fusion. He is an author of featured articles in Network Magazine and Business Communication Review.

Questions

1. What forces have come into play between 2006 and 2008 that are driving CMDB adoption - the "meteoric rise" as you show in your paper?
2. To what extent does process and process planning affect the success of CMDB projects?
3. When you talk about a "system of sources" in your white paper, does federation immediately come into the picture?
4. If there was so much growth in the last two years, what are your predictions for changes in adoption over the next five years?
5. How well will CMDB systems implemented now, in 2008, age with time?
6. What factors will help your CMDB mature gracefully?

EMA Webinar

Title: ITIL v3’s Configuration Management System in Context and What it Means for You
Speaker(s) Info: Dennis Drogseth, Vice President, EMA
Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Time: 11:00 a.m., CDT (GMT -05:00, Chicago)

Join EMA VP Dennis Drogseth for an informative webinar on the concept of the Configuration Management System (CMS) in ITIL v3 and the dynamics behind the CMS and the CMDBS. He’ll discuss the constituency-driven CMDB model of the future in which federated CMDBs are optimized to support unique constituents united through a core system with consistent CI definitions. The presentation will draw from real-world adoptions, and will conclude with critical lessons learned from CMDB deployments in 2008.

EMA Whitepaper
The Emergence of the CMDB: What it Means to You
Many vendors offer CMDB systems, and the capabilities of these offerings vary dramatically. This whitepaper clarifies the definition and role of a CMDB, emphasizes the importance of alignment to the ITIL v3 Configuration Management System (CMS), and showcases the value IT stands to gain through successful CMDB implementation.

Mobility has two meanings, when you stop to think about it. There’s the mobile technology we’ve all come to appreciate, but there’s also the legs that you walk around on and the vehicles that workers use for business. Mobile devices such as cell phones are technology-based movement enablers, but what happens if you put a pedometer on an IT worker and measure their steps? How can IT work directly affect gas and energy expenditures? Find out in this interesting podcast with Dan Turchin, President of Aeroprise, and Tom Biship, CTO at BMC Software.

Dan and Tom have thought about mobility and share stories from their mobile lifestyles. As you might imagine, there are distinct, measurable connections between IT worker mobility and a businesses’ dependence on IT service desk and IT service availability around the clock. As the world flattens, making geography boundaries less meaningful, so does a clock’s ticking become less and less the focus of an IT department’s tasks.

They also discuss how the end of the exclusively-PC computing environment is near as the mobile-centric environment marches in. With a mobile phone knowing your calendar, your availability, and perhaps even your location, more context is available with mobile devices than a desktop computer. Is your mobile office simply your pocket and a Blackberry or iPhone? Or perhaps both a Blackberry AND an iPhone? Find out in this fun and future-forward podcast conversation.

Questions:

1. (IT workers seem to have the toughest schedules due to the 24/7 uptime required by many businesses.) Do IT workers already work from home, but unofficially so?
2. Do you think that scheduled server downtime due to upgrades means that IT workers never get to enjoy the holidays, because server downtime is often scheduled during business slow times? Or is that an oversimplification?
3. What mobile technologies enable a mobile workforce? What’s new in this area?
4. (When some people think of work-at-home arrangements, they imagine a computer desk in the kitchen or living room.) What does the most modern mobile office look like today, in your imagination?
5. (The city of Birmingham, Alabama in the US is going to a four-day work week, but continuing to have five-day-a-week service to the city.) Could you enable a shortened work week and still maintain quality IT services?
6. How much does the cost of fuel and energy directly affect an IT department? Let’s talk about movement towards energy-conserving green IT.

What did you think of this podcast? What it helpful? We want to know what you think so send a note today to talkbmc@bmc.com

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Going beyond just the technology, John and Mike talk about the results of the 2008 annual mainframe survey from BMC Software in this informative podcast. If you've wondered whether process and organizational strategies are separated for mainframe systems and distributed, or how the mainframe's reach been expanded, this podcast offers survey results and interpretation in a conversational format. Find out if attrition for the platform still exists, or perhaps, find out that previous trends have reversed.

John and Mike mention rising power consumption and related costs that face every aspect of IT, and understand that mainframe introduced virtualization to computing. Listen in on their discussion and find out if the mainframe platform can indeed push more services through IT, or somehow automate in ways to optimize IT services for cost and time.

Questions

In this podcast we ask the following questions to learn more about the use trends of mainframes in IT for 2008:

1. When people talk about the "resurgence of the mainframe," what specific areas are encouraging this growth and dependence on the platform?
2. When someone increase their MIPS consumption, what are their main reasons for doing so?
3. What results surprised you the most from the survey?
4. Let's talk about demographics and geographies - what was most interesting about the locations, job titles, and industries that reported back to you on the survey?
   
5. Can you discuss the thoughts reported by companies with plans for complete elimination of the mainframe? Were there any trends reported by certain industries?
   
6. Okay, what can you tell us about mainframe support within BSM solutions - does the survey point out eager adoption or is there some reluctance?
7. Do you have any remaining important points to leave with our listeners?

Peter Armstrong, corporate strategist for BMC Software

Listen in while Peter Armstrong, corporate strategist for BMC Software, talks about the needed skills for the direction that Enterprise IT is headed. In this interview, he gives his observations on an interesting opposition he sees forming. Now that IT does not have to run as if having the lights on day to day is their only goal, and instead, running the business efficiently is their goal, what can happen with those efficiency gains? Now that people realize they can run IT more efficiently, saving money, then do they get to do lots of innovation with that money, and how do you innovate a controlled manner?

So, the question Peter returns to is this: if you run IT with business goals in the forefront, then how will you resolve your priorities? Peter talks about ways to uncover the mentalities and rewards that will help move your department in the right direction as team members get out of a rut. He even describes his own perfect compensation package, and yes, a driver would be pertinent.

Peter travels extensively and has plenty of great stories to go along with the workplaces that are examples of people who really “get” business service management and has a workforce that is enabled to do the same. What story goes along with his ability to recognize the Swiss flag? What’s his true definition of hero? Here’s a small hint, the definition of a true IT hero is a little different in this podcast than the hero described in his white paper.

Take a listen and do talk back. If your experiences or “ah-ha!” moments match any of Peter’s, let us know.

Resources

Six Guiding Principles to Changing Behavior and Speeding the Adoption of BSM and ITIL

Bio

Peter Armstrong is responsible for the increasingly important domain of how business and information technology need to work together. Armstrong has helped to develop the company’s Business Service Management (BSM) strategy. He is also responsible for educating BMC Software’s customers and employees, the media, and analysts about the company’s vision and strategy. In addition to evangelizing, he works closely with the company’s development labs to keep them informed about customer plans and activities, particularly in the non-U.S. marketplace, helping to ensure that the solutions BMC Software delivers are pertinent worldwide both today and in the future.

Production Credits

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Tom Parish at talkbmc@bmc.com.

Doug Mueller, BMC CTO for the Service Management Business Unit

Perhaps your service desks are humming along quite nicely, thank you, but you're wondering what challenges or opportunities are around the corner. Maybe you've been listening to media outlets discuss home-based and outsourced service desk workers and want to know a service desk insider's view point. If you are looking towards the future of service desks, you'll want to listen to this conversation with Doug Mueller about how standards and processes have evolved to bring us the service desk of today and tomorrow. Discover what changes in direction surprise even Doug Mueller as he builds architecture for the technologies and directions for efficient service desks both working with internal and external customer service levels. Doug's enthusiasm for taking the service desk to the next level is noticeable in this podcast, and you just might come away with some new perceptions of the service desk of the future. Does that future involve mobile computing, follow-the-sun hours coverage, and flying cars? Find out by listening in to a conversation about the future efficiency and quality levels that the service desk can attain.

Bio

Doug Mueller serves as Chief Technology Officer, Service Management Business Unit of BMC Software. Doug is responsible for helping drive the architecture and direction of the BSM, Service Support, and Atrium initiatives. He joined BMC in 2002 as part of the acquisition of Remedy where he was a co-founder.

Production Credits

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Tom Parish at talkbmc@bmc.com.

Brent Sullivan, Lead Solutions Manager, BMC

What is Service Automation and how does it go beyond Data Center Automation? What are the benefits? Where do you start? Find the answers to these questions in this interview with Brent Sullivan, Lead Solutions Manager at BMC. Learn how you can deliver IT services faster, safer, and more cost effectively in this 20-minute podcast on Service Automation.

Bio

Early in Brent Sullivan’s technology career he was instrumental in helping a Houston start-up earn its spot on the Inc. 500 list, creating and marketing availability and performance management services and outsourced administration. Brent has since brought innovative ideas to both Compaq Computer Corporation, where he developed Pre-Failure Warranty and an innovative database deployment and configuration capability, and BMC Software, Inc. where he initiated enterprise application solutions and transaction management solutions. Today, with BMC Service Automation solutions, he is once again focused on helping customers solve problems around data center deployment and configuration.

Production Credits

• Tom Parish, Executive Producer, Audio Producer
• 5 alarm music, intro and outro music
  

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Tom Parish at talkbmc@bmc.com.

David Savino, VP of Services, Column Technologies
Tom Bishop, Chief Technology Officer, BMC

Show moderator: Ken Jochims, Lead Solutions Marketing Manager, BMC
 

Are you wondering what, exactly, is a configuration management system, or CMS? How is a CMS different from a configuration management database (CMDB)? Why should IT organizations even care?

While the CMS is not a new concept, it is given considerable focus in the latest release of the IT Infrastructure Library^® (ITIL^®), an integrated and cohesive set of best-practice recommendations with common definitions and terminology published by the Office of Government Commerce. Listen to this podcast to learn more.

Resources

Column Technologies

Ken Turbitt: ITIL v3 and Identity

Production Credits

Tom Parish, Executive Producer and Host
5 Alarm Music, intro and outro music

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Tom Parish at talkbmc@bmc.com.

Quentin Mackey
Regional Director of Delivery, Column Technologies Inc.

Quentin Mackey looks at both the business and technology aspects of an organization so Column Technologies can provide solutions to better manage their internal and external service delivery. Through Column's approach, a business need is translated into an IT solution to support the needs of the organization. In BMC’s case, that translates to continuous training and certification, project management methodology, and adaptation of business service management.

Resources

Column Technologies Inc.

Our Relationship with BMC Software

Bio

Quentin Mackey is Regional Director for Delivery with Column Technologies. He has more than ten years' experience with Remedy ARS development. Quentin has been instrumental in Column Technologies' growth since 2002. His IT Service Management expertise have enable him to design, manage and deliver complex IT Service Management solutions to leading, global organizations across many industries. Quentin brings a wealth of process and technical knowledge, customer success and best practices experience to each and every engagement.

Production Credits

Tom Parish, Executive Producer and Host
5-alarm music, intro and outro music

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Tom Parish at talkbmc@bmc.com.

The value of identity management goes beyond alpha-numeric password protection. The same goes for the identity data itself. Colin Fletcher, BMC Solutions Manager, covers numerous identity management-related topics, including how you can use identity data in conjunction with proactive incident and problem management to ensure you can get home in time to pick up the kids, how identity management projects can lead to unanticipated results, why you need to beware of the rogue server sitting under your desk, and how regulatory compliance can become the identity management conversation starter.

Join us for a thought-provoking identity management conversation.

Production Credits

• Tom Parish, Audio Producer
  

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Tom Parish at talkbmc@bmc.com.

Complex IT environments are even more difficult to understand and synch if your technology includes mainframe and distributed systems. Ron Michael, lead platform administrator in R&D support at BMC Software, wants to help. He currently pens a blog on TalkBMC called "Open for Mainframe" where he uses the topic of open source as the glue linking mainframe and distributed systems. Open source, he says, is an enabling technology that helps bridge the technical gap between the mainframe and distributed worlds. With the rise of Z series Linux on the mainframe and open source continuing to be a hot topic in the distributed world, the idea behind his blog is both timely and wise.

But, that's not all there is to know about Ron Michael. Steve Carl recently wrote about teaming up with Ron, saying "he brought to the table years of mainframe experience, diagnostics, and coding, as well as the kind of holistic understanding one gets from being a well rounded geek. What I am trying to say here is that Ron builds lasers for fun. Real ones. Like for 3D holography and stuff. He is also a machinist. And a helicopter pilot.". Listen in for a fascinating discussion about open source, holography, lasers, and Green IT.

Resources

With over 22 years of previous experience as a programmer and system programmer, both as employee and consultant, Ron Michael began working with BMC Software in 2000. Currently, his role is a Lead Platform Administrator in R&D support. Additionally, he was a consultant to the Optoelectronics lab at the Cullen College of Engineering, University of Houston. Having designed and built microprocessor controlled lab equipment and lasers for use in holography, Ron has enjoyed other technical endeavors. His hobbies include scuba diving, skiing, martial arts, machining, commercial helicopter piloting, video editing, and writing.

Production Credits

• Tom Parish, Audio Producer
• 5 alarm music, intro and outro music
  

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact at talkbmc@bmc.com.

Thinking about offshoring your development, QA, or support efforts to reduce costs? Ran Gishri, director at BMC Software, explains why getting the efficiency gains you expect might not be so easy. He discusses common challenges companies face when they decide to offshore these IT services and tells you exactly how the process of uncovering and resolving application problems plays into it.

There are best practices for overcoming application problem resolution challenges and Ran shares these. He also gives concrete examples of companies that automated problem resolution in a globally distributed development environment. Implemented correctly, automated application problem resolution processes can help companies achieve the efficiency gains they seek by offshoring.

Resources

Ran Gishri has over 15 years of experience in the fields of application development, testing, and management. An accomplished strategist and technologist, his vision and expertise have helped build industry-leading solutions in test automation and application management. Mr. Gishri is a frequent presenter at industry conferences and has authored several white papers.

Production Credits

• Tom Parish, Audio Producer
• 5 alarm music, intro and outro music
  

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact at talkbmc@bmc.com.

The theme of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland is "The Power of Collaborative Innovation". This goes beyond a simpler discussion about disruptive technologies like Web 2.0 to higher-level topics about how technology can be improved and applied to solve the largest and most important world problems (like the rising rate of global poverty). The intent of this meeting is to improve the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional, and industry agendas.

Mark Stouse, global communications leader at BMC Software discusses his experience there and the Davos question: "What one thing do you think that countries, companies or individuals must do to make the world a better place in 2008?"

Mark talks about BSM's place in the solution to global problems and his opinion of what we should take away from Davos: "Never forget that we, as individuals, have the ability to make a tremendous impact if we choose to. There are a lot of people in this world who need our help. And, as important as what we do at BMC is, it is ultimately the impact we have as human beings, individually and collectively, on the larger world that is the most important thing."

Resources

Mark Stouse leads BMC Software's worldwide analyst, press and executive communications organization. Known for strategic, hands-on leadership and content and metrics driven operational focus, Mark joined BMC from HP, where he spent five years as one of the company's most senior communications executives. His view of information technology is enlarged by a wide array of experience and interests. A social scientist and keen political observer, he loves to tell the story of why technology matters and what it accomplishes for real people. He holds that the modern history of enterprise IT can be generalized as follows

1. The creation of an enterprise IT solution was originally sparked by an observable business need. Innovation was directly linked to powering the business.
   
2. Over time, the industry focused more on creating IT products for IT professionals, and therein losing sight of the needs of the business.
   
3. Businesses, frustrated by the increasingly siloed nature of their IT investment, begin forcing IT to justify itself in light of known business needs.

Given that perspective, Mark is impatient with the long, rambling dissertations about "speeds and feeds" that still characterize so many IT discussions today. He believes that the next chapter of the story is being written by companies like BMC, who are re-linking IT innovation with the measurable, definable needs of the business and thereby delivering unprecedented operational power and clarity to business managers.

Besides technology, Mark is a passionate historian whose current interests include President Theodore Roosevelt, Otto von Bismarck, the Crusades, and the rise of the Ottoman Empire.

Production Credits

• Tom Parish, Audio Producer
• 5 alarm music, intro and outro music
  

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact  at talkbmc@bmc.com.

Identity management has evolved far beyond a simple understanding of who is accessing your applications and data.  It is a critical and integral part of business service management and IT best practices, and its automation and integration greatly increases the value of other solutions in your environment.  Bronna Shapiro, director at BMC Software, discusses the evolution of identity management systems, describes how business service management leverages its data, and the criteria that this integration should meet in order to deliver maximum value to your IT organization.  She ends this podcast conversation with colorful, and real-world, examples of great identity management -- and identity management gone bad.

Resources

Bronna Shapiro manages a team responsible for solutions marketing strategy for identity management and is a member of the BMC Thought Leadership Council. Her prior industry experience is in product management of key mainframe products and as an instructor for courses on IMS and DB2 conducted worldwide.

Production Credits

• Tom Parish, Audio Producer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact  at talkbmc@bmc.com.

According to ComputerWorld, 65% of IT professionals surveys said their IT budgets increased in 2007. The top 3 mission critical technologies that will receive funding in 2008 include software development and upgrades, network infrastructure, and data management and business intelligence. But, if you can’t justify the business value of these IT investments to your boss, you just might be putting your career in IT at risk, says Mary Nugent, vice president of software consulting at BMC Software. Mary explains the correct way to measure business value, provides guidance on the framework that will best help you in your ROI analysis, and answers questions on exactly how to calculate the correct return on your IT investments. If you've ever wondered whether or not you can truly believe in ROI, listen in.

Resources

Mary Nugent is an accomplished software technology executive with expertise and in-depth knowledge of information technology. She leads the software consulting organization that is responsible for Business Service Management (BSM) projects for BMC Software.

Production Credits

Tom Parish, Audio Producer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact  at talkbmc@bmc.com.

Software developers everywhere are in a quandary. How do they spend more time doing what they do best -- developing -- and less time in problem resolution? Problem resolution is the time-consuming and often manual process of resolving software defects, bugs, reported issues, or unexpected application behavior.

This process of resolving problems is all about getting to the root cause. Once the root cause is identified, the problem can usually be resolved easily -- greatly accelerating the application development process. But, getting to the root cause, simple as it sounds, is often what confounds developers. Ran Gishri, director at BMC Software, Inc. discusses the critical importance of automating problem resolution and how implementing something like a black box flight recorder for software applications will change your world.

Resources

Ran Gishri has over 15 years of experience in the fields of application development, testing, and management. An accomplished strategist and technologist, his vision and expertise have helped build industry-leading solutions in test automation and application management. Mr. Gishri is a frequent presenter at industry conferences and has authored several white papers.

Production Credits

Tom Parish, Audio Producer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact at talkbmc@bmc.com.

“The mainframe is dead!” is a gross misconception, but is one of the notions responsible for the current level of distributed computing environments. Today, the bulk of the world’s most critical business applications remain on mainframes. But, the over-purchase of distributed hardware has caused server sprawl, a huge increase in resources to manage, inefficiency in the computing environment, and pollution. Consider the power consumption, heat dissipation, and carbon emissions for a single mainframe used for multiple applications compared to 100, 200, or 500 single-application distributed servers? Listen in on a conversation with Ralph Crosby, CTO of the mainframe service management business unit at BMC Software, about this topic and what zLinux has to do with it.

Resources

Ralph Crosby is the chief technology officer for the Mainframe Service Management Business Unit at BMC Software. As chief technology officer, Mr. Crosby is responsible for setting the strategic technology direction for the entire portfolio of IBM Mainframe products. He has been with BMC Software for 13 years, initially working with the DB2 product line. He has authored several products in the DB2 product line as well as worked as an architect in the storage management area. Immediately prior to assuming the chief technology officer position, Mr. Crosby held the position of DB2 architect responsible for technology directions across the full line of DB2 products. Prior to joining BMC Software, he worked as a database administrator, applications architect, and systems programmer in a variety of environments centered on the IBM mainframe, but including Windows and UNIX platforms. Mr. Crosby holds a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Computer Science from the California Polytechnic State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Fordham University.

Production Credits

Tom Parish, Audio Producer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact at talkbmc@bmc.com.

For more conversations from BMC UserWorld 2007 in Vancouver, visit Day 1 and Day 2.

Podcast interviews from Wednesday, October 31st, 2007

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One-on-One with the Chief Architect of ITIL Version 3:  Podcast interview with Sharon Taylor, chief architect of ITL v3 and president of Aspect Group
Sharon Taylor, chief architect of ITIL v3 and president of the Aspect Group gives a fascinating one-on-one interview to TalkBMC.  She reveals whether or not there will be an ITIL v4, her favorite sport, what she likes to do in her spare time, and what's next for ITIL's chief architect.

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Crossing the ITIL Bridge:  Podcast interview with David Solin, R&D solutions architect
David Solin, R&D solutions architect, gives his reaction to the ITIL version 3 "bridge" certification upgrade course at BMC UserWorld 2007 in Vancouver

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It's Your ITIL:  Podcast interview with Michael Nieves, Partner at Accenture; Sharon Taylor, chief architect of ITIL v3 and president of Aspect Group; and Ken Turbitt, global best practices director at BMC Software
Ken Turbitt, global best practices director brings Michael Nieves with Accenture and Sharon Taylor, chief architect of ITIL and president of the Aspect Group to the ITIL table.  They discuss the living ITIL, collaboration and innovation, and why it's "your ITIL".

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Partnering to Build a Better BSM:  Podcast interview with Fred Johannessen, vice president of technology alliances and market zone
Fred Johannessen talks about exciting partnerships, communities, and how conversation is key to building a better BSM.

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UserWorld Partner Series - AlarmPoint:  Podcast interview with Jamie Dudley, vice president and Desi DosSantos, vice president of product management at AlarmPoint
Jamie Dudley, vice president and Desi DosSantos, vice president of product management at AlarmPoint discuss the product, partnership and give a live demo.

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UserWorld Partner Series - Aeroprise:  Podcast interview with Alex Sapp, vice president of operations at Aeroprise
Alex Sapp, vice president of operations at Aeroprise talks about mobilizing business service management.

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UserWorld Partner Series - RIM:  Podcast interview with Pete Keller, senior marketing manager at RIM
Pete Keller, senior marketing manager for RIM explains why the hardware behing the mobile workforce will make you hungry for a Blackberry.

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UserWorld Partner Series - Entuity:  Podcast interview with Michael Jannery, president and CEO of Entuity
Michael Jannery, president and CEO at Entuity explains discovering business critical network devices and their partnership with BMC.

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UserWorld Partner Series - Pink Elephant:  Podcast interview with Gary Case, IT management consultant at Pink Elephant
Gary Case, IT management consultant at Pink Elephant discusses Pink's colorful history and their partnership with BMC.

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Acquiring Automation:  Podcast interview with Sherrie Woodring, former CEO of Emprisa and director at BMC Software
Sherrie Woodring, director at BMC Software, explains the value of the Emprisa acquisition, run book automation, and integrating with the BSM strategy.

For more conversations from BMC UserWorld 2007 in Vancouver, visit Day 1, or Day 3.

Podcast interviews from Tuesday, October 30th, 2007

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Finding Quick Time-to-Value with Support: Podcast interview with Alisa Nessler, vice president of worldwide customer support
Alisa Nessler, vice president of worldwide customer support, starts the day with TalkBMC discussing the global support organization, its challenges and changes.  She explains the Premiere Support offering and enhancements in the knowledge base, as well as the BSM delivery model and its impact on the customer support environment.  No matter what the future holds for support, her goal is to provide the quickest time-to-value for the customer.

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Architecting Value:  Podcast interview with Atwell Williams, solutions architect in the office of the CTO
Atwell Williams, solutions architect in the office of the CTO, shares his excitement about BMC partners, the sessions he has attended, and the presentations he's given at UserWorld 2007 in Vancouver.  He developed a special course called "So I've got a CMDB.  Now what?" to answer questions customers have after they've implemented the configuration management database.  He goes on to discuss the state of BSM and BSM Next (or the potential of BSM 3.0), as well as ITIL v3 concepts.

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact at talkbmc@bmc.com.

For more conversations from BMC UserWorld 2007 in Vancouver, visit Day 2, or Day 3.

Podcast Interviews from Monday, October 29th, 2007

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The Future of Business Service Management: Podcast interview with Peter Armstrong, corporate strategist
Who would want to miss an opportunity to talk to Peter Armstrong, corporate strategist for BMC Software?  No worries.  If you missed him at BMC UserWorld 2007 in Vancouver, you still get to listen to this conversation about where business service management has been and where it's going, as well as the key moment you know that BSM is successful in your enterprise.

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The CMDB Architect's Kit:  Podcast interview with Paul Buffington, senior technical instructor
Senior technical instructor Paul Buffington is enthusiastic about the course he's teaching at BMC UserWorld 2007 in Vancouver -- the CMDB Architect's Kit.  He's focused on helping IT professionals move up the maturity curve, especially moving from the technology layer to the process layer.

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Advanced Asset Management:  Podcast interview with Sydney Dent, instructor
Have you ever met a geochemist?  If you didn't attend BMC UserWorld 2007 in Vancouver, you missed an opportunity to listen to Sydney Dent, BMC's resident geochemist and instructor in advanced asset management topics.  How do you carefully craft your CMDB so that it accomodates the needs of asset management?  Sydney has all the tips and tricks.

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Growing Your I.T. Intelligence:  Podcast interview with Julie Hawkes, senior education consultant
Julie Hawkes discusses ITSM and CMDB education courses she is instructing and why she is passionate about watching her customers grow in their IT education.

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ITIL Face-to-Face:  Podcast interview with Anthony Orr, global best practices director
Anthony Orr discusses what he's most excited about at BMC UserWorld, ITIL education, and why it's important to be face-to-face with your peers in IT.

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Business Service Management and the Mainframe:  Podcast interview with Nick Pachnos, senior manager for worldwide marketing operations
Don't let Nick Pachnos fool you into thinking he's just into marketing.  This former MVS systems programmer talks about BSM and Linux on the mainframe as well as what's missing from HP's recent press release about business service management.

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Designing IT Education:  Podcast interview with Terry Vyas, director - instructional design and development
How does IT education keep up with agile development?  Terry Vyas, manager of the instructional design team for BMC worldwide education services, discusses designing IT education courses in multiple modalities, with blended content, for constantly changing software.  Does it sound impossible?  Not to Terry.  He breaks down this topic in simple terms.

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Customizing IT Education:  Podcast interview with Lenny Warren, education assessment consultant
A conversation with Lenny Warren about customizing IT education specifically for a single customer's complex environment.  Lenny is also at BMC UserWorld 2007 in Vancouver to teach tips and tricks for performance tuning, ITSM, and the CMDB.

Production Credits

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

Why is Agile so important and who's doing it well?  Traditional development methodologies like "waterfall" aren't flexible and don't allow for changes in features or functions as the software is being developed.  Using the Agile approach, developers at can produce enterprise software in half the time, with more flexibility to market needs.  But, that's not all that happens with Agile.  Development teams become more productive, costs go down, and quality goes up.  Everyone wins with the Agile approach.

Resources

Mike Lunt is a Director, Product Line with over 12 years of software life-cycle experience in both online and product-based software. At BMC, he is responsible for continuously improving the processes used to develop and deliver enterprise-level products in the systems management domain. Mike has been working with rapid development and Agile techniques for many years, both at BMC as well as several startups prior to BMC.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Tom Parish, Audio Producer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

First, it was whole-machine virtualization; now, application virtualization is taking the enterprise by storm. But what is application virtualization, and what advantages can it bring to the corporate IT environment? In this podcast, Jeanne Morain, senior manager of configuration automation products at BMC Software, is joined by Jonathan Clark, president and CTO of a new BMC partner, Thinstall. Together, they discuss the advantages of agentless technology, how combining application virtualization with configuration management delivers great value, and more.

Clark gives his recommendations for what to consider if you're in the market for application virtualization technology, and he and Morain discusses how companies can leverage application virtualization to address compliance. But what it all comes down to, says Morain, is cost savings for IT. Combine BSM, ITIL, configuration management and application virtualization, says Morain, and what you get is a true, closed-loop system that is flexible: and true asset lifecycle management, from cradle to grave.

Resources

• BMC Solutions for Virtualization
  
• Press Release:  Thinstall Teams with BMC Software Adding Application Virtualization to Business Service Management
  
• BMC Partner:  Thinstall
• Blog:  Jonathan Clark
• Podcast: Jeanne Morain - CMDB Implementations: Insights from a Pro

Bios

Jeanne Morain is senior manager of configuration automation products group (a.k.a. Marimba and BMC Performance Assurance). She holds a master's degree from Southern Illinois University. Ms. Morain has well over a decade of experience in large-system deployments. She led early developments of integrating discovery tools into assets systems and has worked to guide many of BMC's larger customers on planning, implementing, and maintaining their BSM systems during the last more-than five years.

Jonathan Clark founded Thinstall in 1999, originally focusing on virtualization and copy protection technology solutions for software publishers. Mr. Clark released the first version of Thinstall in 2001 after several years of R&D and continues to actively participate in Thinstall’s technology and business direction. Prior to starting Thinstall, Mr. Clark co-founded the video game development company Crack dot Com in 1994, which produced the original PC and Mac titles "Abuse" and "Golgotha," and ported "Doom" and "Quake" to UNIX platforms.

Education is not just for the classroom anymore for several reasons, according to Linda Moss, vice president of BMC Educational Services. The classroom format does not work for everyone, travel and education budgets are decreasing, and the number of global IT offices is increasing, to name only a few reasons. In addition, companies are expecting their education dollars to produce practical skills that can be employed during the work day, not just familiarity with a theory or a certificate. Linda, a Ph.D. in education, discusses these IT education trends and others, as well as what BMC is doing to meet them.

Listen to this podcast to find out about the new BMC Global Training Lab and other ways that BMC is trying to meet the need for both a variety of education formats as well as “how-to” and “hands-on” training needs. Linda also covers other hot topics for corporate education like ITIL version 3, the CMDB, the future of education, Web-based training, collaboration, and informal education.

Resources

Bio

Linda Moss, vice president, Worldwide Educational Services at BMC Software, Inc., joined the company April 9, 2007. Moss brings over 20 years of extensive training and development experience in the global IT industry. Most recently she served as senior director of Worldwide Education for Brocade Communications Systems, Inc – a position she held held for 7 years – growing Brocade’s education business 300%.

Prior to these positions in the US, Moss operated a successful training and management consultancy in Europe for ten years, working as a advisor/trainer with middle and senior management at companies such as Deutsche Bank, KPMG, Black and Decker as well as the US Federal Govt in Europe.

Moss holds a Bachelor of Arts – English from The University Of Gloucester, England; an MBA, Managerial Leadership concentration, from City University and holds a PhD in Gendered Learning from The University of Kent at Canterbury, England.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Patty Fadhouli, Web Content Manager

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

Lori Cook, vice president of worldwide consulting services and channels, takes us on a tour through the partner channel at BMC Software. In this introduction to our partner series, Lori discusses the partner landscape, including the reorganization and strengthening of this unique revenue channel at BMC.

Working with certified third parties in the partner program allows BMC to extend business service management into areas of the world where this software would not have been traditionally offered. In addition, partnership creates an atmosphere of innovation and growth and enables BMC to integrate seamlessly with other technologies.

The partner network includes solution providers, consulting partners, service providers, independent application providers, and technology alliances. Join us to learn about the benefits, educational offerings, and the single most important thing to know to ensure your success if you are a BMC partner.

Resources

Bio

Lori Cook is the vice president of worldwide consulting services and channels at BMC Software, focusing on extending BMC's growth in all market segments through partners, especially in the emerging growth segment. Lori was recognized in 2006 and 2007 as one of VARbusiness top channel executives. She was also recognized this year as a recipient of the TWIN award, recognizing Silicon Valley’s executive women leaders. Prior to joining BMC, Lori was a 24-year IBM veteran, where she led the services sales team for the Western United States. Lori's career includes several management and leadership positions at IBM including the development of multiple programs with business partners and emerging growth. Lori resides in Napa, California.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Jessica Walker, producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Patty Fadhouli, Web Content Manager

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

Whether you refer to it as identity management or access management, it's all about understanding who has rights to access your data. You need an audit trail, the ability to assign roles and responsibilities, and to manage passwords. But, what does identity management have to do with ITIL version 3 and the CMDB? Ken Turbitt, global best practices director at BMC Software explains.

Ken discusses his own personal identity management crisis and what trends brought about the access management update to ITIL version 3. He also recommends the optimal way to auto-discover and populate your CMDB with identity data. This is important to truly understand how this data impacts, and is connected to, the systems and services of your business.

Resources

Bio

Ken Turbitt is a qualified ISEB ITIL manager and Gartner-qualified TCO consultant. He was a founding member of the Institute for the Management of Information Systems (member since 1985) "outsourcing special interest" group, founded a successful independent consultancy, and was an enterprise architect/analyst for Peregrine Systems, assisting sales and business development across EMEA. Ken also managed the Infrastructure Resource Management (IRM) consultancy practice within Fujitsu/ICL on a worldwide basis, where he was recognized as the ICL worldwide authority on Asset Management and related services. Before ICL, Ken was a management consultant with Price Waterhouse Coopers (then Coopers & Lybrand), where he managed their Network Management Center. Currently, Ken is employed by BMC Software working as best practice director, assisting BMC in aligning with the Best Practices for IT services (e.g., ITIL, CobIT, ETom), presenting to clients, partners, and analysts.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

What software applications extend to your iPhone? Scott Isensee, user interface architect and whurley, chief architect of open source  strategy at BMC Software, used iPhone DevCamp as an opportunity to experiment and find out. If you are into agile development, listen to this podcast and find out what two developers, two visual designers, and one usability expert accomplished over a weekend.

In this podcast, Scott and whurley share their iPhone DevCamp experiences, discuss what application they were able to test and deliver through the iPhone (and how they did it), and explore BMC's involvement in iPhone DevCamp. Scott and whurley also talk about what BMC products they believe can be delivered through this new venue in the future, and how the iPhone and the concept of community will affect the future of IT.

Resources

• whurley's blog:  opensville
• Scott Isensee's blog:  User Interface Design and Usability
• iPhoneDevCamp
  

Bios

whurley (William Hurley) is the chief architect of open source strategy at BMC Software, Inc. Also known as "whurley," he is responsible for creating BMC's open source agenda and overseeing the company's participation in various free, and open source software communities to advance the adoption and integration of BSM solutions. A technology visionary and holder of 11 important patents, whurley brings 16 years of experience in developing groundbreaking technology. He is the chairman of the Open Management Consortium, a non-profit organization advancing the adoption, development, and integration of open source systems management. Named as an IBM Master Inventor, whurley has received numerous awards including an IBM Pervasive Computing Award and Apple Computer Design Award.

Scott Isensee designs user interfaces for systems management products and leads a team defining the common user interface for BMC Software products. In the past he designed the Netpliance i-opener information appliance, led the cross-company user interface architecture group that designed the Common Desktop Environment (CDE) GUI for UNIX, led the IBM user interface architecture group, served on ISO and ANSI committees writing HCI standards, and designed hardware and software for the banking industry. Scott holds 50 U.S. patents and is a coauthor of the books The Art of Rapid Prototyping, Designing for the User with OVID: Bridging User Interface Design and Software Engineering, Information Appliances and Beyond, Constructing Superior Software, and User-Centered Design: An Integrated Approach. Scott holds master's degrees in Computer Science and Industrial Psychology.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Patty Fadhouli, Web Content Manager

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

There are five areas important to the business service management market right now. These include service-oriented architectures (SOA), server consolidation and virtualization, the “greening” of the data center, process execution excellence (or business process excellence), and the application of lean manufacturing principles to data centers. Tom Bishop, CTO of BMC Software, Inc. discusses each of these and how IT must think differently about innovation and technology.

Tom describes the innovation in each area, looks at the resulting complications, examines the implications and subsequent actions that solution providers and their customers need to take to address the innovation, and describes the business benefits. Each innovation is intended to solve a certain kind of problem. The challenge, he says, is to fully exploit the technologies while minimizing any potential problems these changes might introduce to your IT environment.

Resources

• White Paper:  Business Service Management, Innovation, and Industry Trends
• Tom Bishop's CTO blog

Bios

Tom Bishop was named one of the top 25 CTOs by InfoWorld Magazine in 2004, and is a well-known industry innovator who holds nine patents in fault tolerant computing and in leading the development of industry standards such as the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) and POSIX.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Patty Fadhouli, Editor

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

Whether you already have in mind a grand plan for implementing your CMDB, or you don’t have a clue where to begin, this podcast is for you. Tom Bishop, chief technology officer at BMC Software, has helped implement more than 500 CMDBs at various customer sites, so he is well-positioned to offer advice that can help your CMDB implementation run much more smoothly.

In this podcast, Tom reflects on the origins of the CMDB, dangerous implementation approaches that you should avoid, the "cake-eater" approach, and the significance of a post-implementation maintenance plan. He also covers the topic of auto, and manual, discovery. So before you begin implementing your CMDB, take some time to listen to this podcast. After all, another company’s mistakes don’t have to be yours.

Resources

Bio

Tom Bishop was named one of the top 25 CTOs by InfoWorld Magazine in 2004, and is a well-known industry innovator who holds nine patents in fault tolerant computing and in leading the development of industry standards such as the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) and POSIX.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Patty Fadhouli, Web Content Manager

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

From small CMDB implementations with 5,000 configuration items (CIs), to large implementations with millions, Jeanne Morain, senior manager of configuration automation products at BMC Software, has seen it all. Listen to this podcast for her real-world tips on how to optimize your configuration management database (CMDB) as well as insights on service delivery, discovery, and BSM.

Jeanne Morain draws on her years of experience in the field and as a product manager to lay out what elements and activities you need for a successful CMDB implementation. Jeanne also discusses the role of processes and politics during these implementations, and she shares her experiences about the successes, and the pitfalls, she has seen. Join us for this podcast interview with a professional who's seen just about everything in the arena of the CMDB, and wants to offer her insights to help you.

Resources

Bio

Jeanne Morain is senior manager of configuration automation products group (a.k.a. Marimba and BMC Performance Assurance). She holds a master's degree from Southern Illinois University. Ms. Morain has well over a decade of experience in large-system deployments. She led early developments of integrating discovery tools into assets systems and has worked to guide many of BMC's larger customers on planning, implementing, and maintaining their BSM systems during the last more-than five years.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Patty Fadhouli, Web Content Manager

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

The BMC Developer Network (BMCDN) is a new community launched by BMC Software where partners, customers, and even BMC competitors can comprehensively collaborate on development projects in the systems management space. Fred Johannessen, vice president of technology alliances, and William Hurley (a.k.a. "whurley"), chief architect of open source strategy at BMC, discuss how this new, open development environment goes hand-in-hand with open source. Both whurley and Johannessen agree that the BMCDN is simply an extension of BMC's philosophy, which has historically supported the ecosystem required to make quick technological advances in business service management.

With forums, technical tools, and downloads, BMCDN is intended to be an interactive portal that enables anyone to contribute to development projects related to business service management. And by partnering with TalkBMC for blogs and podcasts, BMCDN is the perfect place to give the users voice and provide a platform for user-driven innovation. The goal is simple: provide one more way to create the best systems management solution in the market.

Resources

• BMC Developer Network
• Open Source at BMCDN
• Contact whurley and give him feedback on BMC's open source strategy
• whurley's blog:  opensville
• Fred Johannessen's blog:  The BSM Ecosystem
• Podcast: Fred Johannessen - Virtualization Means...What?
• Podcast: Fred Johannessen - Computing Capacity on Demand
• Podcast:  William Hurley - Doing Open Source Right
• Podcast:  Steve Carl and whurley (William Hurley) - Open Source is a Journey

Bios

whurley (William Hurley) is the chief architect of open source strategy at BMC Software, Inc. Also known as "whurley," he is responsible for creating BMC's open source agenda and overseeing the company's participation in various free, and open source software communities to advance the adoption and integration of BSM solutions. A technology visionary and holder of 11 important patents, whurley brings 16 years of experience in developing groundbreaking technology. He is the chairman of the Open Management Consortium, a non-profit organization advancing the adoption, development, and integration of open source systems management. Named as an IBM Master Inventor, whurley has received numerous awards including an IBM Pervasive Computing Award and Apple Computer Design Award.

Fred Johannessen is vice president of technology alliances at BMC Software and has been with BMC nearly 10 years, serving in a variety of executive roles.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Patty Fadhouli, Web Content Manager

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

People. Processes. Technology. Still the basics of Business Service Management (BSM). But as more companies evolve and settle into BSM, new holes and service needs are being discovered, like the role of the Operational Architect. Join Wiley Vasquez, BMC Practice Manager for IT Process Consulting, as he discusses the gambit of new trends, available services, and best practices like ITIL Version 3.

In this podcast, Wiley discusses new concepts, like that of the IT organization as the operating system, and having a team of people create a workflow within an organization for how people, processes, and technology are the most effectively delivered. Management from various organizations have also expressed a need for guidance from BMC on topics like IT governance, IT process, and the IT service portfolio. Wiley discusses the BMC response, as well as delves into ITIL Version 3 and shares his experiences participating in the review process when this new version was developed. Listen to this podcast to hear about the latest trends and developments within BSM.

Resources

Bio

Wiley Vasquez is the Practice Manager for IT Process Consulting at BMC Software. Prior to that, he was Chief Services Architect for BMC On Demand and Managed Services and previous to that, he served as senior solution architect in the area of in Business Service Management and is one of the original members of the BMC BSM project team. Mr. Vasquez has more than seventeen years of experience in IT management services. Before joining BMC, Mr. Vasquez worked for a large IT services provider and an enterprise automation software vendor in various technical and management positions, ranging from software engineer and manager of large-scale automation services to practice manager of security consulting services in both government and commercial markets.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Patty Fadhouli, Web Content Manager

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Ynema Mangum at talkbmc@bmc.com.

Most people who have VPN tunnels trip in and out of their perimeters numerous times each day. What they don't realize is that this could open up a back-door entry for "black-hat hackers" and lead to loss of all of their important data. That's when perimeters could spell trouble and become unreliable; that's also when you need to exercise a defensive depth and take security down to the level of the machines and systems. In this podcast, Jeff Bohren, software architect for the Identity Management business unit at BMC Software, Inc., discusses the concepts of de-perimeterization and quantum tunneling, and discusses current roadblocks to exercising "security-to-the-bone", even with the technological capability.

Jeff talks about perimeter security and how identity management can help thwart and combat phishing by taking security to the micro level; he also cites real-world examples to illustrate what is user-centric identity management. Jeff discusses the latest terminologies in this arena, like open space, infocard, and SPML, and the benefits associated with these, including the most significant one: the ability to get rid of numerous passwords. This podcast provides insight into the issues BMC is currently focused on in enhancing its already-feature-rich identity management suite, the views and philosophies Jeff shares with Kim Cameron and the concepts of provisioning and federation. And, you'll also learn about the upcoming user-centric interop event at which BMC will showcase the security capabilities of their WAN products.

Resources

Bio

Jeff Bohren is a software architect for the Identity Management business unit at BMC Software, where he specializes in provisioning and federation. He has 20 years of software product development and architecture experience, including over five years developing commercial identity management products. He has worked on various identity management standards such as WS-Trust, WS-Federation, SPML, and OATH. Jeff is currently co-chair for the OASIS Provisioning Services TC. He also serves as BMC's representative to Liberty and OpenAuthentication.Org. He holds Master's and Bachelor's degrees from the University of Florida in Science in Aerospace Engineering.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Patty Fadhouli, Web Content Manager

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

ITIL version 3 certification is now available, and classes for this new certification are filling up. But, what if you already have your ITIL certification? Is it still good? Should you bother to update your ITIL training, and if so, why? Do you have to commit to three more days of classroom training, or is there an easier way? Anthony Orr, global best practice director at BMC Software Educational Services, answers these questions and helps you easily understand ITIL's new "lifecycle" approach by taking you through the movie, "The Three Amigos," and how that relates to ITIL v3.

ITIL version 2 included two books: Service Delivery and Service Support. There are five books for ITIL version 3: Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operations, and Continual Improvement. At the end of the day, ITIL version 3 helps IT focus on the business with a new "lifecycle" approach for managing  critical business services.

Resources

Bio

Anthony Orr is BMC Software’s Global Best Practice Director for Educational Services. In this role, Mr. Orr is responsible for the overall strategies for best practice education including ITIL, ISO20000, CoBiT, Simulations, and so on. He is currently a member of the APMG group ITIL Expert panel for Version 3 certification, vice-chair of the itSMF Certification Committee, and a member of the EXIN ITIL Expert group.

Mr. Orr has more than 25 years of information technology experience. Within these 25+ years, he has held several managerial, consulting, marketing, and technical positions requiring him to be responsible for IT Service Management (ITSM) strategies and implementations. He  is SQMF (ISO20000), ITIL foundation, practitioner, and service manager certified. He also has an Oracle Masters Certificate in Database Administration and Application Development and holds a B.A.A.S. in Computer Information Science.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Patty Fadhouli, Web Content Manager

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

"Be bold. Well-calculated risks will pay off nicely," is the advice Israel Gat, vice president of R&D for infrastructure management at BMC Software, Inc., leaves with listeners at the end of this interview. And from this interview, you'll know that Israel's a man who follows his own advice: After joining BMC Software, he and his development team embarked on a project to bring robust, new functionality to BMC's market-leading IT operations management solutions. And they did so utilizing the new "agile development" technique for software development, which, according to Israel, "caught on [here] like a fire."

BMC Software has long provided market-leading solutions for today's (very) distributed enterprise. Now, it's enhanced these solutions with even richer functionality and integration, closely tied in with BMC's configuration management database. In this interview, Israel discusses the process that led to developing these solutions, and the agile development techniques he and his team employed. He also relates how customer demand led to developing "hybrid" solutions that can utilize agentless or agent-based technologies, and he expresses his goals for moving BMC continuously forward in the operations management arena of IT.

Resources

Bio

Israel Gat is the vice president of R&D for infrastructure management at BMC Software and is responsible for the BMC Performance Manager (a.k.a. PATROL), as well as the BMC Database Management (formerly SmartDBA) and Recovery Management. Israel has been an executive for some of the world's top technology companies, including Microsoft, IBM, Digital, and EMC.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Producer
Patty Fadhouli, Web Content Manager

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Ynema Mangum at talkbmc@bmc.com.

How many passwords do you have?  Maybe 5, 6 or more? If you’re lucky, you have one that works everywhere.  If you've been phished, though, your luck has run out. Most of us have to remember several combinations of passwords to keep our identity safe, to combat phishing and to accommodate merchants’ marketing efforts. How will user-centric identity technologies like Open Space and the use of InfoCards offer an alternative to password alphabet soup? Steve Anderson, identity management product manager at BMC Software offers insight into the latest identity management buzz words: OpenID, Microsoft CardSpace, and InfoCard.

In less than thirty minutes, Steve Anderson explains the difference between enterprise identity and user-centeric identity management; clarifies the confusion around OpenID, Microsoft CardSpace and InfoCard; demonstrates how CardSpace can help close the gaps in OpenID like authentication; and explains what it will take for users to be weened off of passwords. Steve also discusses BMC’s plan to support InfoCards, as well what’s coming up in the new Identity Management for .NET 5.5 release.  Listen to this podcast to learn about the latest identity management technology as well as what might happen in the future.

Resources

BMC Identity Management

Identity Management Podcasts on TalkBMC

Bio

Steve Anderson is an identity management product manager at BMC Software, Inc. Steve has actively participated in the creation of many of today's identity federation standards. He is an original member and the secretary of the OASIS SAML TC, an original member of the OASIS WS-Security TC, a member of the Liberty Alliance Technical Expert Group, and a co-author of WS-Trust and WS-SecureConversation.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Patty Fadhouli, Web Content Manager

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

How many subject-matter experts does it take to develop the Configuration Items (CIs) for your CMDB? And, how many different times zones do you have to criss-cross to be able to engage in a group discussion with all of those experts? If you're a configuration manager following a traditional, top-down approach to building a CMDB, you're probably facing a huge challenge identifying your CIs, building the relationships between them, and putting together your service model.  However, another option is the introduction of open design concepts into your process similar to those used in social media tools like wikis and folksonomies.  This can be the easier way to help you extract and corral all of the information that is tucked inside each SME, as well as ensuring your CMDB is continually maintained.

In this podcast, BMC Software's security architect Ariel Kirson and solutions architect Atwell Williams offer some of their personal experiences and challenges with configuration management; discuss some of the key issues around the traditional approach to creating a CMDB; offer insight into alternative approaches; and debate the pros and cons of hierarchical, versus non-hierarchical, CMDB implementation and maintenance. If you want to be the one to revolutionize the creation, care, and upkeep of your CMDB, listen to this podcast.

Resources

Bios

Ariel Kirson is a Security Architect in the CTO Office of BMC Software. He is tasked with ensuring that products developed by BMC Software are designed and coded to provide adequate security to customer environments. His main responsibility is propagating secure development practices through developer education, design reviews, and the development of guidelines. Additionally he is responsible for addressing security-related questions from customers and supporting Common Criteria (NIAP) certification projects.

Ariel joined BMC Software in 2001, and has served in various business-development and marketing positions. Prior to joining BMC Software, Ariel worked for ten years as a software engineer and customer support manager. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and East Asian Studies, is fascinated by East Asian culture and is interested in traditional Japanese history

Atwell Williams is a Solutions Architect within BMC’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO).  In this capacity, he brings a unique combination of IT process expertise (having served as an ITIL instructor and being ITIL Foundation, Practitioner, and Service Manager Certified) and real world IT experience to BMC’s R&D organization.

Prior to joining the CTO’s office, Atwell was an ITIL Instructor and Education Manager within BMC Software’s Educational Services Department.  In this role, he was responsible for educating external customers as well as internal BMC staff in the areas of IT Service Management (ITSM) and the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL).  As a member of BMC’s Thought Leadership Council, Atwell is a blogger, podcaster, and frequent speaker at industry conferences and BMC Customer Briefings and Forums.  He has also published several whitepapers and articles on the subject of ITSM and Continuous IT Service Improvement.  Prior to his tenure in the Business School, Atwell was the Director of IT Service Management within BMC Software’s IT department and was responsible for assuring the overall performance, availability, security, and recoverability of BMC Software Inc.'s internal production applications. 

Before joining BMC Software in January of 2002, Atwell was a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), were he spent 13 years focused on delivering IT infrastructure and process design and development services to PwC’s numerous clients.  Atwell holds a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Patty Fadhouli, Web Content Manager

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

Open Source is a Journey, Part 1 of 2 - Steve Carl, manager of R&D Open Systems Support and whurley (William Hurley), Chief Architect, Open Source Strategy at BMC Software, Inc.

Play Podcast  (Right click to download)

Open Source can influence every department and aspect of your organization from R&D, marketing and legal, down to the financial ledger. The most revolutionary aspect of open source is it’s collaborative nature.  Similar to social media, open source requires community collaboration and conversation. Listen to this podcast to hear whurley and Steve Carl’s conversation about Dell’s new Linux-loaded PCs, the pitfalls of a patent-happy companies, and the financial impact of open source.

Open Source is a Journey, Part 2 of 2 - Steve Carl, manager of R&D Open Systems Support and whurley (William Hurley), Chief Architect, Open Source Strategy at BMC Software, Inc.

Play Podcast  (Right click to download)

Open source is not only a pervasive buzz term in the IT community; it’s a loaded term as well. Open source is an idea, a culture, a process and a journey. In this podcast Steve Carl and whurley discuss these concepts, as well as the difference between radical innovation and modification; why IBM has embraced open source; the fear of open source; its origins and its future.

Resources

Contact whurley and give him feedback on BMC's open source strategy

whurley's blog: opensville

Steve Carl's blog:  Adventures in Linux

Bios

Steve Carl is the manager of R&D Open Systems Support for BMC Software, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise management solutions. His team supports over 50 different versions of UNIX, Microsoft Windows from NT 3.51 on, and a wide variety of Linux distributions across many platforms. Mr. Carl has over 20 years of computer industry experience and has been with BMC Software for over 14 years in a variety of roles including VM systems programming, OS/400 system programming, corporate email support, and project management for a large Oracle Financials migration. He led the team that hooked BMC Software up to the Internet and deployed its first Web pages. Prior to working at BMC Software, Mr. Carl worked at a subcontractor to NASA at the Johnson Space Center on a similarly wide-ranging series of projects.

whurley (William Hurley) is the chief architect of Open Source Strategy at BMC Software, Inc. Also known as "whurley," he is responsible for creating BMC's open source agenda and overseeing the company's participation in various free, and open source software communities to advance the adoption and integration of BSM solutions. A technology visionary and holder of 11 important patents, whurley brings 16 years of experience in developing groundbreaking technology. He is the chairman of the Open Management Consortium, a non-profit organization advancing the adoption, development, and integration of open source systems management. Named as an IBM Master Inventor, whurley has received numerous awards including an IBM Pervasive Computing Award and Apple Computer Design Award.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Patty Fadhouli, Editor

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

With all the hype about building IT-Business alignment, it's becoming more difficult to understand what really drives value. What are the key areas to focus on as we work toward building an IT organization that is more responsive to the business? What are the key foundational elements that will make us successful? Is a CMDB the answer?

In this interview, Brian Emerson, senior solutions marketing manager with BMC Software, and J.P. Garbani, vice president at Forrester Research, discuss the latest market trends around Business Service Management (BSM) and how BSM is being implemented today. What's working, and what isn't? You can learn about the evolution of IT, and what your organization should consider as core capabilities to ensure the success of IT-Business alignment projects by tuning in to this fast-paced interview with two IT experts. You can also find more information in a free Webinar; register today.

Resources

Webinar:  CMDB Trends in the Marketplace

Business Service Management

Bio

Brian Emerson is a senior solutions marketing manager for BMC solutions focused on enabling technologies, including the BMC Atrium Configuration Management Database (CMDB). Brian joined BMC Software, Inc., in July 2000; previously, he worked as a product manager in the AR System Product Management at BMC Remedy. He has a bachelor's degree in Operational Management and Information Systems from Santa Clara University.

Jean-Pierre "J.P." Garbani is vice president of the Computing Infrastructure and Security Group at Forrester Research, with a focus on performance and capacity management of the IT and Web infrastructure. He has more than 35 years of experience in the development and integration of a number of technologies, including the development of real-time systems, both in the industrial automation area (nuclear power plants) and in the development of network protocols and distributed systems architectures. Jean-Pierre has designed and developed very large distributed infrastructures for the government and banking industry in France, Scandinavia, and the US.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Ynema Mangum at talkbmc@bmc.com.

Type "ITIL training" into a search engine, and you will find a plethora of ITIL certification and educational opportunities. It's a very pervasive topic, but depending on your occupation and level of interest, you might need different knowledge than the person in the cube next door. Not everyone needs to be certified, and some people need more than just foundation training. Since ITIL training can't be "one size fits all," how do you know what courses to take, or exactly what you really need to know about ITIL?

In this podcast, Anthony Orr, global best practices director for the BMC Business School, explains the concept behind the ITIL Learning Path offered by BMC Software; what levels in the path apply to you, as an IT executive, manager, or practitioner; and what makes ITIL training from BMC Software are added value compared to standard ITIL learning paths. Anthony also talks about the future of ITIL, how that could affect your ITIL training decisions, and what will happen to your current ITIL certifications when the next version of ITIL is released. Listen in for a new perspective on the ITIL Learning Path.

Resources

BMC Software Business School

The ITIL Learning Path

More on the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) 

Bio

Anthony Orr is BMC Software’s Global Best Practice Director for the Business School. In this role, Mr. Orr is responsible for the overall strategies for best practice education including ITIL, ISO20000, CoBiT, Simulations, and so on. He is currently a member of the APMG group ITIL Expert panel for Version 3 certification, vice-chair of the itSMF Certification Committee, and a member of the EXIN ITIL Expert group.

Mr. Orr has more than 25 years of information technology experience. Within these 25+ years, he has held several managerial, consulting, marketing, and technical positions requiring him to be responsible for IT Service Management (ITSM) strategies and implementations. He  is SQMF (ISO20000), ITIL foundation, practitioner, and service manager certified. He also has an Oracle Masters Certificate in Database Administration and Application Development and holds a B.A.A.S. in Computer Information Science.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

The mainframe is not dead, but it has certainly evolved. Says Carl Greiner, senior vice president at Ovum, the mainframe environment has changed from monolithic and centralized, to distributed and tightly intertwined with other computing resources in a complex enterprise infrastructure. As a result, mainframe operations staff faces a significant challenge: how to effectively manage the mainframe in this distributed computing environment.

Traditional mainframe management practices do not scale well to the distributed environment. These practices were developed when the mainframe was viewed as a resource, separate from the distributed IT infrastructure. Consequently, IT was slow to integrate mainframe management with the management of the IT infrastructure's distributed components. IT can no longer view the mainframe as separate from the distributed environment. Instead, IT must evolve its mainframe management practices to keep pace with the evolved distributed environment of the mainframe, managing it as an integral part of the IT infrastructure and from a business perspective. That's the only way IT can align more closely with the business and improve service delivery, while holding the line on, or even decreasing, costs.

Resources

White Paper: Keeping Pace with the Mainframe Evolution: What the Mainframe Can Learn from Distributed Systems -- Where ITIL Fits In

Podcast: What Can the Mainframe Learn from Distributed?

Bio

Carl Greiner is Ovum's senior vice-president (SVP), infrastructure, for the Software and IT Services Group. Joining Ovum after 12 years at META Group, Carl held the position of SVP, directing data center (infrastructure) coverage. Prior to this, he was a SVP at Gartner Group, focusing on data centers and storage in the software cluster. His early career spans two decades with IBM, in numerous management positions. He was a dynamic influence across diverse areas, including sales, U.S. and A/FE marketing, product marketing and strategy responsibility, within the Enterprise Systems Group. Carl has a strongcustomer focus, and is committed to helping companies develop and deliver their market strategies. He covers data center infrastructure, addressing servers, storage, high availability, virtualization, consolidation, business continuity, disaster recovery, operations excellence, facility planning, and infrastructure management. He holds a Bachelor's degree and an MBA from Cornell University.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Scott Ebner, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

Today's IT vulnerability threats, coupled with regulatory compliance requirements, mean that the reality of securing operations has become much more complex. Today, with ITIL change processes, CobIT controls, Sarbanes-Oxley, and other factors, companies require an enterprise risk management approach that recognizes and mitigates the impact of risk on business services. Scott Crawford, senior analyst of Enterprise Management Associates; Burt Toma, group manager for BMC Software's Configuration Management Product Management team; and Ross Brown, president of eEye Digital Security, a leader in vulnerability management and assessment tools, discuss this topic and the evolving issue of who is responsible and who is accountable for IT security -- and the challenges that presents. Register for the Webinar: Comprehensive Enterprise Security and Vulnerability Management.

Regulatory, security, and governance imperatives have made managing risk a high priority for the enterprise, demanding comprehensive IT intelligence, threat and exposure expertise, and business awareness that gives risk management true meaning. Enterprise Management Associates examines BMC Software's Business Service Management values that, in partnership with eEye, differentiate the BMC Software risk management foundation. You can also register for the white paper, "Beyond Security - BMC and eEye Lay the Enterprise Risk Management Foundation."

Resources

Vulnerability Management

Bios

Burt Toma is senior product manager at BMC Software, in the Marimba product line. He has been in the technology industry for 14 years, managing security and server management products. Burt has held engineering, product management, and management consulting positions at companies such as Deloitte Consulting and Opsware. Burt holds a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree in mechanical engineering from MIT and an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley.

Ross Brown joined eEye in 2005 as COO and now serves as the company's CEO. Prior to joining eEye, Mr. Brown served as vice president of Worldwide Sales and Channel Operations at Citrix Systems, during which time he was twice named to CRN Magazine's annual list of "channel chiefs." Prior to Citrix, Mr. Brown held management positions with MSI Consulting Group, Network Associates, IBM Corporation, and Tech Data Corporation. Mr. Brown earned a Bachelor's degree in organizational communications from the University of Central Florida.

Scott Crawford is a senior analyst at Enterprise Management Associates, with over 10 year's of experience in information technology. An (ISC) Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Security Architecture Professional (ISSAP), and Security Management Professional (ISSMP), Scott's expertise includes security architecture and policy, software development, and systems architecture and administration. He has conducted extensive research ranging from identity management and security infrastructures to assistive technologies; developed Windows applications as well as UNIX system integration code; and administered Windows and UNIX systems in both the private and public sectors.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Scott Ebner, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Ynema Mangum at talkbmc@bmc.com.

Bringing open source and commercial software models together may seem impossible at first glance, but whurley (William Hurley) understands the symbiosis. The future of systems management, he says, can be summed up in two words: eliminate complexity. And, the principles behind business service management (BSM) are key to eliminating complexity in the IT infrastructure and aligning IT with the business.

Whurley is responsible for creating BMC's open source agenda and overseeing the company's participation in various free, and open source software communities to advance the adoption and integration of BSM solutions. When you get right down to it, he says, open source has yet to fulfill on a lot of the promises that it has made, and he explains why. "Doing open source right" is what excites him most. Listen in, and find out more.

Resources

Contact whurley and give him feedback on BMC's open source strategy

Steve Carl's Blog: Adventures in Linux

Bio

Whurley (William Hurley) is the chief architect of Open Source Strategy at BMC Software, Inc. Famous simply as "whurley," he is responsible for creating BMC's open source agenda and overseeing the company's participation in various free, and open source software communities to advance the adoption and integration of BSM solutions. A technology visionary and holder of 11 important patents, whurley brings 16 years of experience in developing groundbreaking technology. He is the chairman of the Open Management Consortium, a non-profit organization advancing the adoption, development, and integration of open source systems management. Named as an IBM Master Inventor, whurley has received numerous awards including an IBM Pervasive Computing Award and Apple Computer Design Award.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Scott Ebner, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

IT organizations face a critical challenge in providing holistic metrics that matter to the business when reporting tools are scattered across applications from a variety of vendors. Without the capability to analyze what is happening, IT and business objectives cannot align, and business service management becomes impossible to achieve. Brian Emerson, senior solutions marketing manager at BMC Software, discusses existing reporting technologies and the need for them to mature, as well as how you can use a dashboard solution to give you an interactive, summarized, and cross-functional view of IT performance to optimize decisions and accelerate results for your business.

Even though your IT metrics and processes are located in a variety of toolsets, there is a way to integrate and aggregate that data into a dashboard view -- right now. This provides a "single pane of glass" view of IT performance indicators. It's interactive and highly customizable for different roles and different industries. It also provides a consolidated, graphical interface of best practice IT metrics for incident, problem, change, and service impact management. BMC Software provides IT managers with the capability to get the right data at the right time to optimize decisions and improve the success of their IT support functions.

Resources

BMC® Dashboards for BSM

Business Service Management

BMC® Analytics for CMDB and Asset Management

Bio

Brian Emerson is a senior solutions marketing manager for BMC solutions focused on enabling technologies, including the BMC Atrium Configuration Management Database (CMDB). Brian joined BMC in July 2000; previously, he worked as a product manager in the AR System Product Management at BMC Remedy. He has a bachelors degree in Operational Management and Information Systems from Santa Clara University.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Scott Ebner, Audio Mixing, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

TalkBMC listens in on a conversation about Identity Management, but more specifically, the issues and pains surrounding password management. Universal pain is felt when users have to keep up with a myriad of passwords in a number of applications. The more often each application requires that the password be reset, the more frustrated they become. Did you also know that each call to your service desk about password management takes up at least five to eight minutes of their time? How can you solve this problem right now? Chip Gliedman, analyst at Forrester specializing in service management and help desk issues, and Bob Worner, director of product management at BMC Software's Identity Management business unit, tell you how.

Added regulatory requirements, audit controls, and corporate security have all combined to increase the requirement for complex, frequently changing passwords. As a result, password-related calls to the help desk or service desk have increased to the point that password and access issues are often the number one problem. This interview gives you information about how you can improve the situation now. And, for more details, tune in to a webinar on the issues around password resets, automation strategies, and how effective self-service can impact the entire IT/corporate user relationship.

Resources

Webinar: Password Management

More on Identity Management at BMC Software

Incident and Problem Management

Bios

Chip Gliedman is an analyst and Forrester vice president. Chip researches using management processes, technology architectures, business applications, and external service providers to provide the maximum value to internal customers of IT through the service desk and external customers of an organization through customer service and contact centers. He has delivered presentations and workshops worldwide to audiences ranging from four to 400. His work on calculating and communicating the value of IT and IT projects was the subject of a cover story in PC Week, and he has been featured in InformationWeek (US and Germany), CIO Magazine (US and Canada), Business Week, and numerous other business and trade publications. He has also appeared as a panelist on "Silicon Spin" with John Dvorak on ZDTV. Chip earned a BA in anthropology from Hamilton College.

Bob Worner is the director of product management with the Identity Management Business Unit at BMC Software. With more than 20 years of experience in software architecture, design, and development, Bob is responsible for long-term market analysis and business development of BMC Software’s identity management product solutions. This includes working closely with customers; analysts; technology, and business partners; marketing, product management, and the office of the CTO to provide product guidance and business.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Ken Jochims, Moderator
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Scott Ebner, Audio Mixing, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Ynema Mangum at talkbmc@bmc.com.

Global companies have spent over $25 billion on enterprise applications to improve employee productivity. However, employees spend increasing amounts of time away from their desks, and the benefits derived from these investments are lost. This phenomenon of mobile employees and desk-bound tools causes a "problem resolution" gap. In service management contexts, this gap causes missed service expectations, poor response times, endless backlogs, expense "leaks," and dissatisfied customers. Since IT applications are growing and becoming increasingly complex, this gap is widening and its impact on business performance is increasing.

Aeroprise, a BMC MarketZone partner, eliminates the "problem resolution gap" that exists between deskbound applications and mobile employees by enabling IT service management staff to extend their desktop application and customize it to their mobile devices according to their own individual needs and role in the organization. When your employees are mobile and your applications are not, Aeroprise offers a a real solution to unwiring service management and using your applications where real work gets done -- in the field.

Resources

Aeroprise

Datasheet: Increase Efficiency and Reduce Cost with Mobile Service Management (PDF)

University of Michigan Case Study (requires Aeroprise registration)

Top 5 Mobility Tips (requires Aeroprise registration)

Bio

Dan Turchin co-developed Aeroprise's award-winning suite of Mobile Workflow Management products and has overseen the growth of the company into a profitable, recognized leader. Under Dan's leadership, Aeroprise has garnered widespread praise for having solved problems that delayed the proliferation of enterprise mobile solutions for years. Aeroprise was recently awarded first prize at Mobile Showcase, named a Red Herring 100 finalist and received "Product of the Year" honors in 2004, 2005, and 2006 from the customer base of BMC Software.

Dan and team were first prize winners at Garage Technology Ventures' PLANedu National Business Plan Competition in 2000. He founded Kwaish, Inc. which later merged with Aeroprise. Prior to Aeroprise, Dan worked in Strategic Planning at The Walt Disney Company in Burbank, Orlando, and Paris, as an Analyst at Andersen Consulting, and as a Systems Engineer at Searchbutton, Inc. Dan holds BS and BA degrees from Stanford. He is a frequent speaker at industry events and a contributor to publications including Support World magazine.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Executive Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Scott Ebner, Audio Recording and Mixing, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

In response to a request from an analyst in our audience, we've connected with Adolfo "Duff" Ibañez, technical services manager at BMC Software. He discusses how BMC is changing the way it does business by delivering a solution to partners that enables a real-time and unwired demonstration of business service management. Flight Deck Global Solutions Site has enabled BMC and its partners to truly move from a product to a solution sales model. It's a simple, customizable, and unwired way to demo BSM in action. If you're an analyst or partner, listen in.

Software consulting is changing, at BMC and many other companies. As any software company evolves and grows, demonstrating value to customers and prospects becomes difficult. Integrating all the new software products released as well as software from acquired companies is complex and time-consuming. Add the fact that demos couldn't be performed remotely and were tied to specific hardware, and you are guaranteed problems. Flight Deck GSS enables BMC consultants to shorten the sales cycle by using any Internet connection to demo business service management and all of its underlying components.

Resources

Partner Network

Contact information for Flight Deck

Bio

Adolfo "Duff" Ibañez III has been involved in technology and software development for over 15 years. He joined BMC Software in 1997 as a developer, was recruited into software consulting in 2001, and is currently the technical services manager for BMC Software’s Worldwide Channels and Alliances organization. Duff and his team are responsible for the technical enablement of BMC Software’s partners. This team developed and manages the Flight Deck Program, which is redefining the way BMC Software and their partners deliver demonstrations and software evaluations.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Scott Ebner, Audio Mixing
Alysia Korelc, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

Kia Behnia, chief corporate architect at BMC Software, discusses the evolution of the CMDB and its similarities to the purpose of personal information manager (PIM). Many companies over the years have put together various management systems and have to tell that system about the environment; this is analogous to the information put into a PIM. Kia talks about data organization in the earlier PIMs and his pet peeves when it comes to information-store usability. He also gives advice on balancing efficiency with business alignment so that your IT department can become a true activator for the business itself.

Attaining efficiency and alignment is not just an either/or proposition. Kia give examples of companies that became so efficient, they risked being outsourced because they had not created a close relationship with the business. On the other hand, he discusses IT organizations that were so aligned with the business that they forgot efficiency; eventually, those organizations became so expensive, their growing businesses could not afford them. The key is balance, says Kia. Step back and look at your business, from the top down. What business decisions do you want to make? Such an assessment will point you in the right direction and enable you to deliver the right data to the right people. This is the very best way to get the most out of your IT dollars while achieving business alignment and activation.

Resources

BMC Atrium Configuration Management Database (CMDB)

BMC Dashboards for BSM

Business Service Management

Bio

Kia Behnia helped develop BMC Software's Change and Configuration Management (CCM) strategy. Prior to joining BMC Software, he was CTO for Marimba, and, earlier in his career, he was one of the principal technologists for Tivioli Systems.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Scott Ebner, Audio Recording and Mixing
Alysia Korelc, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Ynema Mangum at talkbmc@bmc.com.

How has the role of the software architect changed through the years and what will it look like in the future? Jeff Hodges, manager of the Client Architecture group at BMC Software, Inc., says companies have traditionally looked at architects for their specialties with certain databases, applications, or systems. Companies with more mature IT organizations are realizing today that this role has evolved into that of someone who not only understands their technology-specialty areas, but also what is happening, on a larger scale, to the organization. This emerging role of the business service management architect is the key to helping IT successfully align and support the business.

As business service management (BSM) becomes a reality for any company, the role of the BSM architect becomes more and more critical to the organization. Jeff believes that this role of trusted advisor will evolve. He thinks more vertical or industry specializations will naturally occur and that more specialized training and education will become available, not only at BMC, but everywhere. But instead of focusing expertise solely around a particular technology, he advises, the BSM architect should understand your IT organization, the specific changes that need to happen to it, and how technology integrates into, and impacts, your business.

Resources

Services at BMC Software

Bio

Jeff Hodges manages the Software Consulting Client Architect team at BMC Software, Inc. Jeff has over 14 years of experience managing people, process, and technology to successfully develop and implement integrated IT Service Management solutions. He was formerly an R&D engineer and R&D team manager for HP, professional services consultant for Remedy Corporation, consulting manager for Siemens, independent consultant, and a project manager for Citigroup and client architect for BMC Software. Jeff holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from California State University at Sacramento, California.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Scott Ebner, Audio Mixing
Alysia Korelc, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Ynema Mangum at talkbmc@bmc.com.

Forget the "glass ceiling." Mary Nugent, vice president of software consulting at BMC Software, discusses how far women are progressing, not only in technology, but in business in general. Mary discusses the women who inspire her. Among those she most admires are Meg Whitman of eBay, Linda Dillman of Wal-Mart, Anne Livermore of HP, and Melinda Gates -- who was a product manager at Microsoft before she undertook the task of influencing Bill Gates on world-changing matters like bringing technology into human issues.

Mary believes females do well in technical and consulting positions and tells you exactly why. She also discusses the organizations that women can join if they are interested in networking, and how those networks can help them get ahead. The best thing to do, she says, is look inside your own organization for opportunities to interact with others. Mary believes that a diverse workforce brings an amazing richness to a business. Finally, she advises both men and women about how they can mentor and help young people get a good start in the business world.

Resources

Thought Leadership Council at BMC Software

Mary Nugent covers the Service Model concept

Bio

Mary Nugent is an accomplished software technology executive with expertise and in-depth knowledge of information technology. She leads the software consulting organization that is responsible for Business Service Management (BSM) projects for BMC Software.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Scott Ebner, Audio Mixing
Alysia Korelc, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

Historically, the mainframe IT model meant computers intended to help a business run were centralized and very expensive. In the 1980s, the availability of small, less expensive, and high-powered machines made the distributed model possible, and hundreds, or thousands, of distributed systems were installed in traditionally mainframe organizations. But, due to growth and complexity in databases today, instead of managing a single mainframe, IT organizations everywhere are managing hundreds at a time. In addition, the cost of the distributed platform has risen because the capabilities of these systems have increased, whereas the cost of the mainframe has decreased due to competitive pressures. What we're seeing today, says Ralph Crosby, chief technology officer for the Mainframe Service Management business unit at BMC Software, is some convergence in the mainframe and distributed world. And, that calls for a big step in the evolution of management tools.

In both the mainframe and the distributed world, databases have grown in size and scope, creating complex environments that are difficult to manage and even more difficult to react to quickly or proactively. Ralph believes that it is time for an inflection point for these unwieldy environments and that the future of relational databases lies in their simplification. Two significant trends he sees are support for XML and the freeform query. Both help make databases less complex and easier to manage. And, management is key because there is no end in sight to the exponential increase in transactions and objects. You must realize that the mainframe has some strengths, and the distributed system has others, and there are real benefits to putting parts of your applications in one or the other of these environments. To stay in business, you must have enterprise-wide tools that enable you to bridge the gap between your mainframe and distributed systems, connecting all of your platforms to provide a single, seamless view of your IT world.

Resources

BMC Software Thought Leadership Council

Unified Service Level Management

Business Service Management

Bio

Ralph Crosby is the chief technology officer for the Mainframe Service Management Business Unit at BMC Software. As chief technology officer, Mr. Crosby is responsible for setting the strategic technology direction for the entire portfolio of IBM Mainframe products. He has been with BMC Software for 13 years, initially working with the DB2 product line. He has authored several products in the DB2 product line as well as worked as an architect in the storage management area. Immediately prior to assuming the chief technology officer position, Mr. Crosby held the position of DB2 architect responsible for technology directions across the full line of DB2 products. Prior to joining BMC Software, he worked as a database administrator, applications architect, and systems programmer in a variety of environments centered on the IBM mainframe, but including Windows and UNIX platforms. Mr. Crosby holds a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Computer Science from the California Polytechnic State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Fordham University.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Scott Ebner, Audio Mixing
Alysia Korelc, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Ynema Mangum at talkbmc@bmc.com.

How are enterprises all over the world changing and what are the drivers for this transformation? Wiley Vasquez, chief services architect for the On Demand and Managed Services business unit at BMC Software takes on this question with a unique perspective. As businesses grow, the complexity of their IT environment grows as well. This complexity in the infrastructure is leading businesses all over the world to consider a sourcing-oriented architecture - using outside service providers to deliver their business services. This hub-and-spoke model separates the core competencies of the business from services that should be delivered by outsourcing.

Wiley describes the different types of outsourcing that are happening today, like business process outsourcing, managed services, and software as a service. How should you approach outsourcing and which business-critical services should you consider outsourcing? Wiley takes on this question and insists that the future is now. Pervasive sourcing is taking hold, and you can gain the benefits of a service-oriented operating model today.

Resources

Wiley Vasquez blog: Exploring On Demand Technology

Bio

Wiley Vasquez is the chief services architect for the On Demand and Managed Services business unit at BMC Software, Inc. Prior to this, he served as senior solution architect in the area of Business Service Management and is one of the original members of the BMC BSM project team. Mr. Vasquez has more than 17 years of experience in IT management services. Before joining BMC, he worked for a large IT services provider and an enterprise automation software vendor in various technical and management positions, ranging from software engineer and manager of large-scale automation services to practice manager of security consulting services in both government and commercial markets.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Scott Ebner, Audio Mixing
Alysia Korelc, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Ynema Mangum at talkbmc@bmc.com.

At one time or another, virtually everyone who works with mainframes has heard that the mainframe is dying. This has been especially true in recent years, with the media publishing forecasts that foretell its imminent demise. But Mike Moser, product management director and program executive at BMC Software, disagrees. He has gathered actual customer data showing that more than 80 percent of the respondents say that mainframe use is holding steady or is actually growing at their company as new applications and new workloads are configured. And, why not? Most of the world's mission-critical data and transactionally intense workloads are hosted on mainframes. Also, if you are seeking the most reliable and stable platform with the lowest TCO, the mainframe is still king.

In this interview, Mike discusses the important developments and investments being made for this platform and the challenges and priorities of the organizations that have mainframes in their IT environment today. One key issue is that even though the mainframe is here to stay, fewer people are entering the workforce with mainframe expertise and experience. Mike explains why this skill set is valuable and where the opportunities lie. If you want to work with the most mission-critical applications and solve the toughest business problems, the mainframe is where it's at.

Resources

Email Mike Moser

BMC® MAINVIEW® Transaction Analyzer

Bio

Mike Moser is a product management director and program executive in BMC Software's Mainframe Service Management business unit. Before coming to BMC, Mike spent several years at both Digital Equipment Corporation as a hardware engineer and later in field consulting with clients in the aerospace industry on software development in real-time computing applications. Later at Ralston Purina, Mike was involved in IT strategic planning, technology planning, and application development. Mike has spent the last six years with BMC as a product manager in both distributed and mainframe product lines, with his most recent assignment focused on making BMC's extensive mainframe solutions portfolio a fully integrated member of their Business Service Management solutions.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Scott Ebner, Audio Mixing
Alysia Korelc, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

What is the future of usability? Whether it's software, hardware, or any other technology, one thing is for sure: it's all about ease of use. But, that's a vague term, a catch-all phrase that just muddies the waters. Just what does "usability" mean? What's the history behind the term, what's driving trends in product usability today, and what are the biggest challenges in finding usability nirvana? Dr. Randolph Bias and Scott Isensee give sometimes opposing views of these questions, and more.

Have you ever had a problem justifying the cost of usability? You're not alone. This, and problems like developers testing their own designs and the dangers of amateur usability, are discussed in this podcast. The field of usability has existed for at least half a century, but interfaces are still difficult to use. Will this situation get better, and if so, how? One point on which Randolph and Scott both agree is that usability experts need to have a good mix of academic knowledge and business experience to be truly successful.

Resources

Randolph Bias
Scott Isensee's Blog: User Interface Design and Usability
Cost-justifying usability: An update for the Internet age
Designing for the User with OVID
The Art of Rapid Prototyping: User Interface Design for Windows and Os/2
User-Centered Design: An Integrated Approach

Bio - Randolph Bias

Randolph Bias was a usability practitioner for 25 years before joining The University of Texas at Austin School of Information in 2003 to research human-computer interaction and teach usability. He has published over 50 technical and scientific articles and co-edited Cost-Justifying Usability, 2nd edition: An Update for the Information Age. Randolph led BMC Austin's first usability team before joining UT, and he holds a B.S. in psychology and a doctorate in cognitive psychology.

Bio - Scott Isensee

Scott Isensee designs user interfaces for systems management products and leads a team defining the common user interface for BMC Software products. In the past he designed the Netpliance i-opener information appliance, led the cross-company user interface architecture group that designed the Common Desktop Environment (CDE) GUI for UNIX, led the IBM user interface architecture group, served on ISO and ANSI committees writing HCI standards, and designed hardware and software for the banking industry. Scott holds 50 U.S. patents and is a coauthor of the books The Art of Rapid Prototyping, Designing for the User with OVID: Bridging User Interface Design and Software Engineering, Information Appliances and Beyond, Constructing Superior Software, and User-Centered Design: An Integrated Approach. Scott holds master's degrees in Computer Science and Industrial Psychology.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Scott Ebner, Audio Mixing
Alysia Korelc, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Ynema Mangum at talkbmc@bmc.com.

ITIL Certification Series, Part 2 of 2 - Service Delivery: Podcast interviews with Atwell Williams, director of IT Service Management at BMC Software, Inc.

Service Level Management (Part 7 of 11)

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Achieving improvements in service quality and reducing service disruption through effective Service Level Management can ultimately lead to significant savings in time and money. This process is used by organizations to determine the level of IT service needed to support the business. It also enables monitoring to identify whether the required service levels, and predetermined Service Level Agreements (SLAs), are being achieved.

Capacity Management (Part 8 of 11)

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This ITIL process ensures that the IT infrastructure's capacity matches the fluctuating and evolving demands of the business -- in the most cost-effective and timely manner. Achieving this requires that you understand how current IT resources are being used, then develop a Capacity Plan. Once you understand the current use and future requirements, effective Capacity Management can help you match resources with business needs in the most efficient way possible.

Availability Management (Part 9 of 11)

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Availability of IT services has never been more important to the success of the business. In most companies today, if IT stops, so does the business. These days,advancements in technology have netted significant improvements in the IT infrastructure's availability and reliability . Fault-tolerant, and error-correction, design features in hardware and software now reduce the risk of IT component failures, providing improved levels of availability for the business.

Service Continuity Management (Part 10 of 11)

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In today's highly competetive and service-oriented business environment, organizations are judged on their ability to continuously operate and provide service at all times. This ITIL process is concerned with managing your ability to continue to provide pre-determined and agreed-upon levels of IT services that support the minimum business requirements following a business interruption. Interruptions may result from an application or system failure, or a complete loss of the business premises. Business processes and technology are so interdependent today that an effective Service Continuity Management process is critical to your overal business and IT service continuity planning.

Financial Management (Part 11 of 11)

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IT Financial Management is the discipline of ensuring that IT infrastructure is obtained at the most effective price. This involves accurately calculating what it costs to provide IT services so that an organization can clearly understand IT charges. These costs may then be recovered (or charged back) from the customer of the service.For accurate budgeting, it is also essential to forecast future IT infrastructure costs; this is also an important component of the Financial Management ITIL process.

Bio

Atwell Williams is presently a director of IT Service Management within BMC Software's Business School. In this role, Mr. Williams is responsible for educating customers as well as BMC staff in the areas of IT Service Management (ITSM) and the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). Mr. Williams is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and BMC Customer Forums. He has also published several whitepapers on the subject of ITSM and Continuous IT Service Improvement.

Resources

Read Atwell William's blog on TalkBMC: IT Service Improvement - Are We There Yet?

BMC Education

Atwell Williams - ITIL Certification Series, Part 1 of 2 - Service Support

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Alysia Korelc, Web Developer
Scott Ebner, Audio Mixing

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

ITIL Certification Series, Part 1 of 2 - Service Support: Podcast interviews with Atwell Williams, director of IT Service Management at BMC Software, Inc.

Service Desk (Part 1 of 11)

Play Podcast  (Right click to download)

Service Desk is the only ITIL function. All the rest of the modules you will study for your ITIL Foundation Certification are ITIL processes. The Service Desk provides a single point of contact for advice, guidance, and the rapid restoration of IT service(s). Since it is the users' single point of contact with the IT organization, their experiences with the Service Desk greatly influence their level of satisfaction and overall perception of IT and your entire organization. Listen in to understand the critical success factors for the Service Desk.

Incident Management (Part 2 of 11)

Play Podcast  (Right click to download)

The goals of incident management are to restore normal service as quickly as possible, to minimize the adverse impact of incidents on business operations, and to ensure that the highest possible levels of service quality and availability are maintained. Learn the true definition of an incident, where incidents can originate, and the best practice processes for handling these. (Incidentally, you should download this recording.)

Problem Management (Part 3 of 11)

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The Problem Management ITIL process differs from Incident Management in that its main goals are to detect the underlying cause of an incident, to resolve it, and to prevent it from happening again. This process is in place to minimize the adverse impact of incidents and problems on the business that are caused by errors in the IT infrastructure and to prevent incidents from recurring, related to these errors. To achieve this, you must get to the "root cause" of the incident and initiate actions to improve or correct the situation. This podcast teaches you the relationships Problem Management has with other ITIL processes and an easy way to study for the ITIL Foundation Certification.

Configuration Management (Part 4 of 11)

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Configuration Management is the ITIL process concerned with identifying, recording, and reporting IT components including their versions and relationships to other IT components. Items under this process's control include hardware, software, and documentation. These items are stored in the Configuration Management database (CMDB) and are known as Configuration Items (CIs). Configuration Management is not the same as Asset Management, but you have to tune in to figure out exactly why these disciplines are different.

Change Management (Part 5 of 11)

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Change is a constant in business. In IT, where a complex infrastructure is the norm, changes impact the business. This means that you have no choice but to spend a significant amount of time assessing the impact of business changes on IT, analyzing the impact of IT changes on the business, identifying the problems that continually arise and require additional changes, and introducing new ideas and tools that cause even more changes. Managing change has now become a full-time occupation and is an important ITIL process to understand. Change Management, when done well, results in minimal risk to the business, and that's the most important goal.

Release Management (Part 6 of 11)

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The term "Release" is used to describe a collection of authorized changes to an IT service. Every organization should have a policy for managing releases and roles and responsibilities should be formally defined so that everyone understands their job and level of authority as well as the tasks of others involved in the Release Management process.

Bio

Atwell Williams is presently a director of IT Service Management within BMC Software's Business School. In this role, Mr. Williams is responsible for educating customers as well as BMC staff in the areas of IT Service Management (ITSM) and the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). Mr. Williams is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and BMC Customer Forums. He has also published several whitepapers on the subject of ITSM and Continuous IT Service Improvement.

Resources

Read Atwell William's blog on TalkBMC: IT Service Improvement - Are We There Yet?

BMC Education

Atwell Williams - ITIL Certification Series, Part 2 of 2 - Service Delivery

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Alysia Korelc, Web Developer
Scott Ebner, Audio Mixing

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

Data center efficiency is the ratio between how much useful work is done and the total cost of IT. It seems like a simple equation, but it has Dave Wagner, solutions management director for Capacity Management and Provisioning at BMC Software, scratching his head. The problem, he says, is the price of oil. With energy costs rising as much as 30 percent per year, depending on where you live, the dollars you spend on power will soon surpass what you spend on servers. This poses a problem for data center managers who need to accurately manage capacity. We can measure the cost of power at the data center level and even down to the rack level, but there is no way to measure power consumed per server. If you've ever thought about "going green" in your data center, be sure to listen in.

Dave's blog, Twenty-First Century Capacity Management, has some thought provoking posts on this subject. He writes about the impact of global warming on IT and the data center thermal runway. And, he poses questions you might never have pondered. Here's one: If power is a bigger part of the cost equation than servers, shouldn't you be doing capacity management on power instead of on servers?

Resources

Dave Wagner's blog on TalkBMC: Twenty-First Century Capacity Management

Dave Wagner's email: david_wagner@bmc.com

Data Center Optimization

Bio

Dave Wagner is a solutions management director for Capacity Management and Provisioning at BMC Software. He is responsible for driving overall solution strategy, pricing, requirements, and positioning for BMC's families of proactive performance analysis, modeling, and dynamic provisioning and orchestration solutions across leading enterprise platforms and their associated application environments. He has spoken at numerous conferences including the Computer Measurement Group, the premier conference for resource management and performance evaluation professionals.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Scott Ebner, Audio Mixing
Alysia Korelc, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Ynema Mangum at talkbmc@bmc.com.

Regulatory compliance for corporations isn't new, though it has become a popular topic and, sometimes, the subject of intense media coverage. In the end, it's really all about risk, and how your business manages it. Cindy Sterling, a director of BMC Software's Identity Management business unit, can provide the "411" on risk management. She takes you through the definitions, critical points, and key steps so that you can better understand risk management for your IT organization. And, if you'd like to see how best practice standards like CobIT map back to business service management, she gives you a visual reference so you can correlate the control objectives to your service-level objectives.

First, you have to think of risk management as a business issue, not just an IT issue. How important is it to you? What are you trying to accomplish? You must understand that there are internal and external drivers for risk. Which ones do you focus on first, and why? What is the most important risk to your business right now that you may have not considered? Advises Cindy, everything about your risk management process should deliver value back to the organization, or you'll "risk" just wasting your time.

Resources

Mapping CobIT to Business Service Management

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Risk Management Guide for IT Systems

Bio

Cindy Sterling is a director at BMC Software, Inc. Since joining BMC in 1993, Cindy has held several executive positions including director of operations for field marketing for the Americas covering five business units, director of North American technical services for security management solutions, and worldwide director of product marketing and business development for identity management solutions. The flagship product of her business unit is BMC Identity Management Suite, the most successfully deployed solution in the market today, covering directory management and vsualization, user administration and provisioning, audit and compliance management, access management, and password management.

Prior to 1993, Cindy held several professional and management positions at American United Life Insurance Company. At AUL, her career activities included automating the company’s data center, which included deployment of several BMC Software solutions. Cindy holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics degree from Taylor University.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Alysia Korelc, Web Developer

Business Service Management (BSM) is the methodology that will change the way you do business -- it allows you to manage IT from a business perspective. With SAP applications installed at over 32,500 companies worldwide and growing fast, BSM for SAP is a necessary topic for any organization that wants to architect their SAP environment from the perspective of the business. Marike Owen, senior product manager at BMC Software, walks you through the steps you need to take to do this and recommends a complimentary webinar on BSM for SAP.

Derek Prior, a consultant for AMR Research and formerly a lead SAP consultant for Gartner, will be featured at the webinar, Using ITIL Best Practices to Optimize Your SAP Environment, on October 3, 2006. He'll discuss the need for more business-focused management of SAP environments, and will address how ITIL methodologies and Business Service Management processes significantly improve IT service levels, leading to better business performance. A follow-up webinar in November shares real-life examples of ITIL and BSM implementations in SAP environments.

Resources

Attend one of BMC's complimentary SAP Technical Insights webinars

Contact Marike Owen, senior product manager at BMC Software, Inc.

Bio

Marike Owen is a senior product manager at BMC Software with 13 years of experience in the systems management market. She began working with systems management at HP, where she worked in the OpenView Software Group, then managed all parts of PATROL for BMC, and eventually settled into application knowledge modules with a specific focus on SAP. Marike has an undergraduate degree from The Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Alysia Korelc, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

TuringSMI has been providing ITIL expertise for over fifteen years and combined with its BMC software expertise, is able to provide clients with an effective one-stop stop for BMC software solutions. TuringSMI is also a Telecommunications OSS and eTOM Best Practices expert and has developed a range of components that extend the BMC Remedy ITSM functionality to meet the specific requirements of the Telecommunications industry. Gary Brooks discusses their newest solution suite, OS3, which answers the specific challenges of the Telco industry.

BMCUserWorld 2006 Podcasts and Blogs

Not too many years ago, IT service management was about managing devices typically confined within the walls of data centers. As devices were combined into distributed IT infrastructures that extended well beyond data center walls, IT professionals had to raise the bar. As a result, IT service management evolved from managing devices to managing the infrastructure. Now, many IT professionals have set their sights on Business Service Management (BSM). To progress toward BSM, IT organizations are again raising the bar, implementing solutions that enable the staff to visualize and understand the relationships of the IT infrastructure components to the business services they support. The next logical step in this progression is to look beyond business services and begin thinking in terms of business processes. This is really IT growing up, Mary says.

Ensuring that IT proactively drives strategic value - going beyond aligning with the business to truly activating business value - requires an understanding of the relationships of business services to the business processes they support. But, the well-known line from the movie Jerry McGuire -- "Show me the money!" -- is at the top of the minds of IT managers and CXOs. Mary explains exactly how to show value from your incremental approach to business service management so that you can begin to realize substantial rewards, including faster, more consistent business services that drive greater revenue opportunities and reduce your risks and your costs.

Resources

Thought Leadership Council at BMC Software
Innovation: Information Technology and Business (PDF)

Bio

Mary Nugent is an accomplished software technology executive with expertise and in-depth knowledge of information technology. She is responsible for the development of projects around Business Service Management (BSM) for BMC Software.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Scott Ebner, Music, Audio Mixing
Alysia Korelc, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

Karen Sinclair is responsible for the Service Impact Management and Event Management product line. She tells us about her experience at BMC UserWorld 2006. Despite targeting the learning sessions by audience, she’s found that many in IT are interested in crossing over and learning something new about an area outside of their specialty. To Karen, this is perfect timing, as service model creation and ownership of the CMDB requires collaboration across all IT departments as well as other areas of the business. It’s just another example of how business service management is changing the future of business.

BMCUserWorld 2006 Podcasts and Blogs

Resources

BMC^® Service Impact Manager

BMC^® Event Manager

Remember when you were young and loved to play in a sandbox? Well, Walt Giroir discusses some of the cool new features of the Service Impact Management and Event Management product line, including the addition of sandboxes that allow everyone involved to help build a service model together. He talks about the next big step in the evolution of IT: moving from an event management model to a service impact management model and how that allows you to view events within a business context. The technology is here to help you quickly realize significant value to your business and get you on the road to business service management.

BMCUserWorld 2006 Podcasts and Blogs

Resources

BMC^® Service Impact Manager

BMC^® Event Manager

Chris Williams takes you into the mind of a partner at BMC UserWorld 2006 in San Francisco. He works with BMC delivering professional consulting services to customers who want to implement identity management right in their IT environment. But, the thing he's most excited about? ITIL, of course.

BMC UserWorld 2006 Podcasts and Blogs

Have you ever wondered what the face of BSM might look like? Scott reveals it and takes us into a deeper dive of the BMC Dashboards for BSM. Not only can you view pods by ITIL process, you can also completely customize your view according to what is important for your business. Expecting to launch in October, this product takes the data from four other BMC products and wraps it up into a beautiful BSM package, so that you can finally run IT from the perspective of the business.

BMC UserWorld 2006 Podcasts and Blogs

Resources

Screenshot of BMC Dashboard for BSM (JPG: 148.9KB)

Scott Isensee's Blog on TalkBMC: User Interface Design and Usability

Bill Miller brings you right into the action at BMC UserWorld 2006 in San Francisco and reveals that the sessions are overflowing and cannot be easily ended due to all the questions and the interest that arise at the end of the sessions. People are excited about a number of things, including BMC's commitment to the mainframe, enterprise scheduling, agentless technology announcements, and the fact that BMC will be the only ISV to deliver end-to-end transaction management across the mainframe and distributed environments.

BMC UserWorld 2006 Podcasts and Blogs

Ash walks us through the BMC Dashboards for BSM, which enables the executive to have a powerful view of the IT organization.  On a single screen, you can see problems by department, organization, and business driver, the critical nature of the problems that are happening, and if your team is handling them in the proper manner.  If you want to find out about how you're living up to your service level agreements in real time, you've got to see this.

BMC UserWorld 2006 Podcasts and Blogs

Resources

Screenshot of BMC Dashboard for BSM (JPG: 148.9KB)

Jim Grant discusses the state of BSM and the powerful impact it is having on the world.  He shares what he's hearing from customers and discusses the wave of excitement that is building, something you both hear and feel at BMC UserWorld 2006 in San Francisco.  He talks about high performing partners, the shifts happening in the industry and the sessions you're missing.

BMC UserWorld 2006 Podcasts and Blogs

There is so much excitement at UserWorld that it's hard to know where to begin. Some of the most interesting things are the product integrations that Atwell is seeing and customer's reactions to the technology and the strategy of BMC. Atwell teaches a Service Management course at BMC UserWorld 2006 in San Francisco, empowering you to run IT as a service to the business. Don't fret if you missed it. Atwell can be found at the BMC Business School in Houston, Texas.

BMC UserWorld 2006 Podcasts and Blogs

Resources

Atwell Williams' Blog on TalkBMC: IT Service Improvement: Are We There Yet?

Doug was the co-founder of Remedy and loves developing products. But, when he's not doing that, he's talking to you. You've probably seen him in his Hawaiian shirt and tennis shoes, welcoming you to keynote sessions at BMC UserWorld 2006 in San Francisco. But, if you stopped to talk to him, you would find out about the future of service management, what he's hearing from BMC customers, the most exciting things about UserWorld to a CTO, and the sessions he can't wait to see.

BMC UserWorld 2006 Podcasts and Blogs

With 80 percent of IT budgets today being used to maintain the status quo, very little is left over to implement newer technology and services that will help take the business to the next level. How can you lower costs, yet improve services and unleash innovation in your enterprise? Fred Johannessen and Julie Craig have the formula. Done right, you can achieve datacenter optimization and realize significant and demonstrable savings that can be used for new technology to grow your business.

Fred discusses a four-step continuous improvement process that will help you resolve the cost versus quality dilemma in your datacenter. The key is optimization, he says. Julie Craig throws best practices into the mix, describing what CobiT might bring to the table that ITIL does not. She talks about the exciting products that are coming out in the market right now and how the CMDB is contributing to product intelligence that is positioning technology to manage systems better than humans for the first time ever. She's also excited about new products and workflows that are helping companies navigate through the ITIL puzzle while helping them model, implement, and enforce their processes. If you're having trouble putting the pieces together, tune in to this informative interview.

Resources

Webinar and white paper: http://www.bmc.com/optimize

Bio - Fred Johannessen

Fred Johannessen is vice president and program executive for data center solutions at BMC Software and has been with BMC nearly 10 years, serving in a variety of executive roles.

Bio - Julie Craig

Julie Craig has over 20 years of deep and broad IT experience in software development and enterprise systems management. Her experience as a developer in commercial software companies included analysis, design, and coding in diverse development environments, as well as management of programming teams. Her Master’s Degree area of emphasis was on Object Oriented Technologies with a focus on Java. As a former IT senior engineer, she has extensively evaluated enterprise management solutions for ROI and functionality and has implemented multiple system, application, and performance management products. At EMA, Julie’s focus is on application and performance management, ITIL, and emerging technologies including Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Autonomic Computing. Prior to EMA, her most recent position was as a manager in the Global Architecture and Core Technologies group at Accenture, where she worked extensively on ITIL-related consulting projects.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Kimberly Stone, Development Manager
Scott Ebner, Music, Audio Mixing
Alysia Korelc, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

George Gallop heads the Capital Markets Group of TuringSMI, a BMC global VAR and partner company. In this podcast interview, he discusses the financial services and investment banking industries and what role technology plays in financial and brokerage transactions. What are the drivers for growth and the important things happening that call for better technology and processes? George answers these questions and more.

TuringSMI has created a solution called FIQS, based on the service desk technology of the BMC^® Remedy^® Action Request System^®. In the absence of a common resolution platform, some banks and institutional investment firms are challenged to truly understand their cost of sales and the profitability of supporting certain institutional customers. Customers demand more and more accurate data, immediate performance, and don't like to be "shuffled around the house." The FIQS solution enabled a true, single point of contact for the customer; better performance; and a better user experience. This is an industry first -- taking a technology used for an IT service desk function and creating a solution that enables institutional investment banks and financial institutions to record, raise, route, monitor, and report on all elements of a business interaction and service request from external clients and contacts. (For more information, contact George Gallop or Jeffrey Laper.)

Resources

TuringSMI Web site

Contact George Gallop

Contact Jeffrey Laper

BMC^® Remedy^® Action Request System^®

Bio

George Gallop heads the Capital Markets Group of TuringSMI, a BMC global VAR and partner company. A native of New York City and graduate of Temple University, George spent over 15 years in Investment Banking Operations, Trading & Sales and Sales Management. Prior to joining TuringSMI George was Vice President, Fixed Income Capital Markets for a top tier Wall Street Investment group. George resides in Southern England with his wife and 2 children.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Kimberly Stone, Web Development Manager
Alysia Korelc, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Ynema Mangum at talkbmc@bmc.com.

What does Linux have to do with BMC Software, or with any company that creates and sells enterprise software? Are there natural "sweet spots" between Linux and the mainframe? Steve Carl, manager of R&D Open Systems Support for BMC Software, manages a team that supports about 4,000 computers (1,000 are Linux) and 5,000 to 6,000 operating system images in Houston. Steve talks about his 17-year history with the company and answers questions you might never have thought of about Linux.

As one of the most popular bloggers on TalkBMC, Steve has some tips and tricks to share with others about how he keeps his technical skills current to keep readers responding enthusiastically to his blog. He reminisces about his very first computer and the first Web browser he ever saw, and he talks about the Linux inflection point: What if critical mass for this were ever reached? Linux is already being used for things you've probably never thought about like ATMs and remote loan transactions. What's next for Linux and where is it going? Steve talks about his vision, and more. Come on -- open up your mind, and tune in.

Resources

Steve Carl's blog: Adventures in Linux

Bio

Steve Carl is the manager of R&D Open Systems Support for BMC Software, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise management solutions. His team supports over 50 different versions of UNIX, Microsoft Windows from NT 3.51 on, and a wide variety of Linux distributions across many platforms. Mr. Carl has over 20 years of computer industry experience and has been with BMC Software for over 14 years in a variety of roles including VM systems programming, OS/400 system programming, corporate email support, and project management for a large Oracle Financials migration. He led the team that hooked BMC Software up to the Internet and deployed its first Web pages. Prior to working at BMC Software, Mr. Carl worked at a subcontractor to NASA at the Johnson Space Center on a similarly wide-ranging series of projects.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer
Dana Farver,Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer, Show Host
Kimberly Stone, Web Development Manager
Scott Ebner, Music, Audio Mixing
Alysia Korelc, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

If you've ever wondered what technology and social media enthusiasts talk about when they go to lunch, download this podcast. Anne Gentle, information developer at BMC Software, discusses her popular blog on TalkBMC and gives advice on how to build a loyal following for a blog. Where does blogging fit in an enterprise communications strategy? She touches on this, and all the topics she is most enthusiastic about, like the technology that makes it easier for people to find information, social media, and wikis.

BMC's agile development environment keeps Anne on her toes as a technical writer. So, she experiments with all kinds of technologies to make life easier. She enjoys XML-based information models like Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA), and loves to talk about the place of RSS in the world. You'll also hear her opinions on Technorati, Splunk, DIGG, AJAX, and XML. But, she's really enthusiastic about OPML, which allows people to share their RSS feeds. Discover why she has a deep, personal appreciation for system administrators and download.

Resources

Anne Gentle's blog: Exploring Information Technology

Bio

Anne Gentle writes different deliverables ranging from user manuals to online help to white papers on a technical publications team that works on distributed systems products. Known to write a script or two to automate repetitive tasks like help builds, she also likes to work with XML-based information models like Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA). Anne often experiments with online help technology, enjoys writing blogs entries, and wants to find new ways to use communication to help people understand technical solutions to complex problems.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer, Show Host
Dana Farver,Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Kimberly Stone, Web Development Manager
Alysia Korelc, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

Andi Mann, senior analyst at Enterprise Management Associates, and Kia Behnia, chief corporate architect at BMC Software, explore the concept of client management and closing the loop on managing the lifecycle of software on client devices. This has become an increasingly complex topic as more devices are created and more ways to access them become viable. Closing the gaps that exist and connecting the entire change process is a logical progression, but in order to really reduce costs and improve security, you must embrace IT best practices like ITIL and the right technology solutions for your complex environment.

There are several factors that drive the creation of closed loop client management solutions:cost, business service, and risk management. There is a balance in implementation that requires using standards, tools, and processes. Kia and Andi help you bring all these together and take you through the steps required to close the gap. After listening to the podcast, view the webinar at http://www.bmc.com/clientmanagement and download an Enterprise Management Associateswhite paper.

Resources

For more information, download the webinar and white paper at: http://www.bmc.com/clientmanagement

Bio - Kia Behnia

Kia Behnia, chief corporate architect for BMC Software, has helped develop BMC Software's industry-leading Change and Configuration Management (CCM) strategy. Prior to joining BMC Software, he was CTO for Marimba and, earlier in his career, he was one of the principal technologists for Tivioli Systems.

Bio - Andi Mann

Andi Mann, senior analyst at Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), has worked within the IT departments of various global corporations and with several enterprise software vendors for over 20 years. At EMA, his focus is on the intelligent and automated management of IT, specifically surrounding systems and applications management, configuration management, provisioning, and virtualization of systems and applications.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer and announcer
Ken Jochims, Moderator
Dana Farver,Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Kimberly Stone, Development Manager
Scott Ebner, Music, Audio Recording and Mixing
Alysia Korelc, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Ynema Mangum at talkbmc@bmc.com.

Due to cost-cutting, technology silos, and the lack of repeatable best practice processes, most IT support groups work in a REACTIVE mode – struggling to efficiently respond to incidents that have already occurred. And when you add the mounting pressure from service level agreements – there is little opportunity for your support group to proactively PREVENT future incidents or IMPROVE the overall quality of service. Tony Sanders, Senior Business Solutions Manager with BMC Software and Dennis Drogseth, Vice President of Enterprise Management Associates talk about this problem and the real solution.

What if you could quickly identify and resolve infrastructure incidents before they become larger issues, so you can further reduce the number, duration, and severity of business disruptions while improving service desk efficiency? Through a broader range of integrations with more of the IT infrastructure and additional IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) problem management automation, you can. But, moving your company to a service management mentality involves a major cultural shift, one that needs to be identified and not taken lightly. Understand all the critical points you have to know about this topic. Listen in.

Resources

Webinar and white paper: http://www.bmc.com/proactive

Bio - Tony Sanders

Prior to joining BMC Software in May 2000, Tony Sanders was in IT management at The Coca-Cola Company. In his role, Tony was responsible for technical design and implementation of business systems and enterprise systems management in the U.S. and abroad. Tony joined BMC Software as a product-marketing manager for the storage products. He has recently supported the Americas International Region as the Business Unit Field Director for the Service Management Line of Business and Business Service Management. Tony is currently the Business Solutions Manager supporting the Americas Region.

Bio - Dennis Drogseth

Dennis Drogseth joined EMA in 1998 with 24 years of experience in various aspects of marketing and business planning for systems and network solutions. He directs a team of analysts that focus on the development of the Networked Services Management practice areas that span performance availability and service management across enterprise and telecommunication markets. At EMA, Dennis has pioneered research in converging management strategies such as performance/availability and integrated security. Another focus is on changing organizational dynamics in IT, such as issues between the service desk and the operation center. Other research looks at management issues shared between the enterprise and the service provider communities. Dennis works extensively with clients to help establish meaningful product positioning within an overcrowded marketplace. He is a speaker on many management related issues.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer, Show Host
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Kimberly Stone, Web Development Manager
Scott Ebner, Music, Audio Recording and Mixing, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Ynema Mangum at talkbmc@bmc.com.

Your IT staff faces a daunting challenge in protecting the IT ecosystem on a 24x7 basis. Bronna Shapiro, Director of Infrastructure and Applications Management at BMC Software discusses the role of the mainframe within the IT environment and the risks to business operations and continuity posed by events other than disaster or hardware failures. Bronna shares one very personal business disaster experience and talks about how solutions based upon intelligent automation can mitigate threats to business continuity and significantly increase your operational efficiency. But, the solutions also have to be based upon the broader context of Business Service Management.

Mainframe systems continue to store the majority of the world's digital information. Because the mainframe is so critical to business continuity, when the data is lost, corrupted, or cannot be accessed quickly, it can be catastrophic to the business. When preparing for the worst, you have to consider calamitous events that can wipe out entire data centers, but not forget other types of events that can be just as catastrophic -- human errors, application errors, and delays in reacting to changing conditions in the IT environment. How can you really protect your business? Bronna lets you know.

Resources

White Paper: "Beyond Disaster Recovery": Protecting Mainframes to Ensure Business Continuity (PDF)

Read the new book Innovation: Information Technology and Business (PDF)

Bio

Bronna Shapiro manages a team responsible for solutions marketing strategy and baseline campaigns for BMC and is a member of the BMC Thought Leadership Council. Her prior industry experience is in product management of key mainframe products and as an instructor for courses on IMS and DB2 conducted worldwide.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer, Show Host
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Kimberly Stone, Web Development Manager
Scott Ebner, Music, Audio Mixing, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact talkbmc@bmc.com.

Why should your company implement a CMDB? How can you cost justify it? That's the rub, says Atwell Williams, Director of IT Service Management at BMC Software, Inc. Thinking of it alone isn't what makes the CMDB valuable. But, thinking of it as a way to relate your IT infrastructure components to your business services and processes using configuration management is when its significance is truly discovered. Are you part of one of those companies