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CMDBs: An IT Goldmine?: Page 13 of 24

The standalone IBM Tivoli Change and Configuration Management Database (CCMDB) serves as the integration platform for other products in IBM's portfolio. IBM uses Discovery Library Adapters (DLAs), which are based on XML, to federate the CCMDB with IBM Tivoli and third-party products. Within the portfolio, DLAs are available for Provisioning Manager, Configuration Manager, Business Systems Manager and others. DLAs are offered for BMC Remedy and HP OpenView ServiceCenter.

In addition, IBM has created process managers for the CCMDB to automate IT processes according to ITIL specs. Three process managers are available: Release Process Manager for software updates, Availability Process Manager for root-cause analysis and problem resolution, and Storage Process Manager for storage consolidation.

The company's 2005 acquisition of Collation gave the CCMDB a competitive app-dependency mapping and visualization component. Like HP and BMC, IBM Tivoli is a strong presence in large enterprise accounts. IBM can exploit that presence to drive adoption of its CCMDB platform. The system is also designed to streamline federation with service-desk products from BMC and HP.

Managed Objects likewise offers a standalone product, CMDB360. While the CMDB360 can integrate with other software in the company's own management portfolio, Managed Objects is aiming to be the independent CMDB vendor of choice, as evidenced by its strong focus on working with third-party data. Managed Objects offers more than 60 adapters (sold separately) to gather and reconcile CI data. CMDB360 uses an XML-based schema that conforms to the DTMF's CIM standard.

However, Managed Objects' quest to be the quintessential neutral CMDB that plays well with others may be thwarted by the company's size: A $30 million dollar company going up against multibillion dollar behemoths will have a much harder time connecting with organizations that are interested in a CMDB, even though it may have an edge with those concerned about vendor lock-in.